Directorate to question lobbyist Deepak Talwar on Airbus aircraft deal in jail

NEWSOF

The Enforcement Directorate has been allowed to quiz corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar who was liaising for the purchase of 43 aircraft from French company Airbus in 2005.

Talwar is currently in judicial custody and the court has allowed the agency to interrogate him on jail premises from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 6 pm.

Talwar obtained benefits for Airbus Industrie and some other foreign companies for a huge sum of funds received in the accounts of various entities directly or indirectly controlled by him.

The ED said the court, Talwar exploited his connections with government servants, which gave him the pecuniary benefit in the plot of the Airbus Industrie, while causing a corresponding loss to the government by the 43 craft by Indian Airlines to Airbus.

The ED had earlier moved into a production warrant so he could have been arrested in the Airbus case. But the court asked him to ask him in jail instead, following which ED withdended the warrant application. The court later passed an order permitting the agency to grill him on weekdays.

The ED informed the court that September 2005 in the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), in which the French company of representatives was also present.

The public prosecutor told the court that Talwar received Rs 92 crore from Airbus in one account and Rs 142 crore in another

Caused Rs 1,000-cr loss to govt's exchequer: ED

'EGoM approved purchase of 43 aircraft in 2006 on the condition that Airbus will establish training and repair center worth Rs 1,000 crore But the condition was fraudulently deleted when the purchase order was placed, 'the ED said.