CBI closes payoffs case against arms dealer,ED steps in

While CBI officials told The Indian Express that the court order had been dispatched to the ED — which maintains they will attempt to piece together the evidence for an early probe — on September 28,officials in the Directorate said they had since written to the CBI requesting them to give them relevant documents on allegations of payoffs received by Choudhrie in the Soltam case.

Significantly,while the CBI had filed its closure report before the Special CBI court in 2010,it took almost a year for the judge to accept it. At least in one hearing,he quizzed the CBI on the details of financial transactions between Soltam and Choudhrie listed in the FIR.

The court order makes it clear that the case of alleged payoffs to the Soltam agent for upgrading 130 mm filed guns to 155 mm for the Indian Army is the latest in a string of defence cases being investigated by the CBI which have collapsed and consequently closed.

In his order,the CBI judge has listed the 10 original allegations made by the CBI in the Soltam FIR filed in 2007 and the corresponding findings — or the absence of it — in each instance.

The most revealing are the facts listed by the judge on the alleged payoffs to Choudhrie and his firm,MITCO. While the CBI had stated that alleged payoffs to the tune of Rs 67.48 lakh had been deposited in the account of the company by Soltam,the CBI has noted in its closure report that these payments “were received in pursuance to an agreement executed in London in June 1999 by which MITCO was appointed representative of Soltam for their products — electric and non-electric stainless steel kitchen utensils…’’ and that this agreement was terminated in 2001.