NEW DELHI, NOV 1: The Government has rejected the latest offer of the Turkish firm Karsan for an out-of-court settlement in the Rs 133-crore urea supply deal.``The offer has been considered and rejected by the Government of India,'' S K Ray, Vigilance Director of the Department of Fertilizers, said in a reply sent to Karsan's solicitors in Geneva.However, the six-line letter, sent to Karsan's solicitors Pirenne Python, Schifferli Peter and associates last month, did not disclose any reason for non-acceptance of the offer.When contacted, Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister S S Barnala initially feigned ignorance about it, but later confirmed the rejection.``We have rejected their offer taking into account all the aspects relating to the matter,'' Barnala said.``A criminal case is pending in the court, arbitration proceedings are also going on in the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) at Amsterdam,'' Barnala said, adding ``all these points were considered while taking the decision.''Inits latest set of proposals sent to Barnala in August, Karsan had offered to ``settle the present dispute in order to maintain the good and long term relations with India''. It had offered to arrange cent per cent security for the amount of Rs 133 crore in the form of Indian urban property, to be mortgaged in favour of National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL).The Karsan offer stated that upon receipt of the security to the satisfaction of NFL, the criminal case should be withdrawn on all the accused and they must be released and their passports returned.It also envisaged withdrawal of claim and counter-claim brought by NFL and Karsan respectively before ICC and closure of proceedings in this regard.``The final amount to be paid as full and final settlement of the dispute will be negotiated and agreed upon by NFL and Karsan during their talks in New Delhi,'' the offer said.Karsan, which offered to pay the substantial amount agreed upon by both the sides within a period of three months of arranging the security,wanted release of the mortgaged property upon receipt of the amount.``All seizures of bank accounts and properties of all accused in India and abroad must be lifted immediately, so as to enable Karsan to pay up the settled amount,'' the offer document said.Karsan started approaching the Indian Government after the arrest of its two top executives, Cihan Karanci and Tuncay Alankus, in connection with the case in Geneva.It sent the first proposal in July last year, which was rejected by the Deve Gowda Government. The second and third proposals made in March this year also met the same fate.When, the BJP-led coalition came to power, Karsan renewed its efforts for an early ``settlement'' and directly approached Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with a new proposal in April. But the offer was ``considered and rejected'' on July 30.NFL had awarded the contract to Karsan on November 9,1995 for supply of 200,000 MT of urea after modifying the earlier contract with it in July the same year. The entireamount of $ 38 million was paid in advance. Not a single grain of urea reached India till June 30, 1996, the last date for fulfilling the deal. The CBI, which registered a case immediately after the expiry date, went ahead with the probe and chargesheeted nine persons for alleged acts of criminal conspiracy, cheating, misappropriation and corruption.
