Who are Sudhir and Bhanu Choudhrie, father-son arms dealers booked by CBI?

According to the CBI, the accused conspired with unknown public servants who abused their positions to approve and procure the aircraft for GBP 734.21 million — besides permitting licence manufacturing of 42 aircraft by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) against materials supplied for an additional amount of USD 308.247 million and another USD 7.5 million towards manufacturing licence fees — in lieu of bribes, commissions, and kickbacks to intermediaries.

In 2006-07, vital documents pertaining to the deal were seized from the premises of Rolls-Royce India Pvt Ltd during a raid by the Income-tax Department. But the accused persons, according to the CBI, caused the disappearance/ removal/ destruction of those documents to evade investigation.

Previous cases

For London-based international arms agent Sudhir Choudhrie, this is not the first brush with the CBI. In 2006, he moved base from Delhi to London after his name figured in a CBI probe into the Defence Ministry’s contract with Israeli firm Soltam to upgrade 130-mm field guns and the Barak missile deal. He and his elder son Bhanu became British citizens in 2002, when Bhanu set up C&C Sons, a holding company.

In 2011, after the CBI gave a “clean chit” to Sudhir Choudhrie in the Rs 208-crore Soltam deal, the Enforcement Directorate opened a probe into the financial transactions of the deal, but did not find any evidence of violations. The CBI closed the case in the Barak missile deal in 2013.

In 2014, both Sudhir and Bhanu Choudhrie were arrested as part of a Serious Fraud Office probe in London for allegedly helping Rolls-Royce pay bribes to secure contracts in China and Indonesia. The case against them was later dropped.

In 2015, the Choudhries’ C&C Alpha Group sold its hospital chain Alpha Hospitals to Cygnet Health Care for about Rs 970 crore as part of a move to focus on India where Bhanu proposed to invest in the healthcare and hospitality sectors.

Trails of wealth

Sudhir Choudhrie was 26 years old when he set up an export company in Delhi in 1975. He diversified quickly, and founded C&C Alpha Group as a holding company for all his investments.

From 1993 to 2004, Choudhrie served as the Honorary Consul General of Latvia to India. In 2013, he was awarded the Asian Business Lifetime Achievement Year Award by then UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

Known for their love for rare artworks and vintage cars, the Choudhrie family has figured in multiple global investigations into offshore finance.

As reported by The Indian Express in the Panama Papers (2016) and FinCen Files (2020) investigations, Bhanu was named director in two British Virgin Islands companies — Belinea Services Ltd and Anterna Ltd — that made over 200 transactions worth at least $118 million between 2009 and 2014. These transactions were flagged by Bank of China, Bank of New York Mellon, and JPMorgan Chase for suspected “money laundering/ structuring”.

Bhanu resigned as Anterna’s director in January 2016 after the company’s shares were transferred to Sumant Kapur, the son of Sudhir’s uncle B K Kapur, a former chairman of HAL.

In 2016, JPMorgan Chase flagged 13 transactions totalling $1.84 million involving Bhanu, his younger brother Dhariya, Bhanu’s then wife Simrin, Dhariya’s wife Karina, and Optima International Group SA (BVI) for suspected money laundering and suspicious use of multiple accounts.

Optima International was incorporated in July 2007 for the purpose of “investment holding in Switzerland” and Bhanu was the ultimate beneficial owner (UBO).

Days after the Panama Papers investigation was published in April 2016, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca decided to drop Optima International as a client and flagged the company to the BVI’s Financial Investigation Agency for “crime/ fraud”, reporting that Bhanu and Sudhir were arrested by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office in a probe into bribery allegations at British Aerospace and Rolls-Royce.