Malta tragedy kingpin says, "Wah-Wahi" to himself

On December 25 last year, some 227 Indian, 88 Pakistani and 149 Sri Lankan illegal immigrants drowned in the Malta-Sicily channel after their boat collided with a ship during a mid-sea transfer. Most of the Indians on board had been sent by Wahi’s network of illegal agents.

Almost a year after the horrific accident, Wahi is untouched by regret. He was caught last week as he was trying to send out a batch of 10 youths to Austria.

Scoffing at allegations about his guilt in the Malta tragedy Wahi claims to “know the names of 25 men who were allegedly feared dead in the incident and presently are in touch with their family members in Punjab. In letters to their families they have mentioned being somewhere in Nafplion area (near Sicily),” Wahi argues. On the contrary, he says that he has provided fifty thousand jobs to Indian youths in five years. “That’s something no state government could do in such a short time.”

Wahi’s is a classic rags -to-riches story, the Puppy who hit big time abroad. Hailing from Kapurthala in Punjab, Wahi was the only child of Satpal Wahi, a Bata shoe salesman. A college drop-out, Wahi set out for European capitals in 1973 for “exploration.” Landing up in Athens and falling in love with a Greek girl, Maria, eventually proved fortuitous for Wahi.

Between working as a helper in farms and factories for years, he kept returning to India. After he broke off from Maria, Wahi married another Greek woman, Vasilia in 1978 and settled down in Athens.

His first big break occurred when he met a talented dress designer Prima Mirtali, in 1985. The duo began designing dresses and opened a boutique in Athens.

Gradually Wahi established himself as a leader of the Indian immigrant community. He was at the forefront of the protestors when Greek shipping magnate, Mikhalis Mikhail, refused to employ Indians aboard his ship, Panagia Fangromeni.

The following year, Wahi bought a 1,000 ton ship for US $ 85,000 and named it `Pushpak’. Thus began the mass traffic of Indian youths into Greece. Wahi bought a second ship after someone challenged him to buy another ship — the 1,500 ton `Coral Sea’ for US $ 1,60,000.

Soon Wahi controlled a multi-million dollar empire spanning Cyprus and Athens and comprising two shipping companies — Clairemont Shipping Inc. and Carolina Navigation Ltd. Even now, in jail, he hasn’t lost any of that chutzpah. When asked how many Indian he must have assisted during his stay in Greek, he replies with an expansive air: “Oh innumerable!” But he refuses to give a figure. He then launches into a diatribe against the government which he says should have commended him for helping change the economy of villages in the Punjab. “Every youth that I had sent abroad is now remitting a minimum of US $ 85,000 – 100,000 to his family every month,” he boasts flagrantly. He, of course, does not bother to explain how the unskilled labours that he sends manage to earn so much.

But for Wahi in full flow that is immaterial. “Many slums in Punjab have changed into cosy cottage blocks. What about the massive foreign exchange that keeps flowing into the country? If the government coffers are flush with foreign exchange then it is because of my efforts,” he claims.

A sharp, shrewd, calculating, money minting machine, Wahi knows as many languages as he has aliases. He can speak eight foreign languages — Italian, Yugoslavian, Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek, not to mention English. Wahi had surrendered to the CBI in Delhi in March this year. Wahi was in the process of sending more youths abroad when he was arrested by police inspector Habib Ansari of the Azad Maidan police station.

Complaining about the inhuman jail conditions, Wahi said, “I am totally disillusioned with my country. The jails which the Britishers had made to enslave Indians are now being used to lodge free Indians.”