Ravinder Kumar Rishi, under investigation in connection with an alleged fraud in the purchase of Tatra heavy-duty vehicles for the Army, and members of his family are the main beneficiaries of Hemang Foundation, a trust based in the European tax haven of Liechtenstein, which fully controls Tatra Sipox (UK).

The contract for supply of Tatra trucks is being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after Army chief Gen Vijay Kumar Singh claimed that he was offered Rs14 crore to clear the purchase of 600 trucks. He further alleged that the trucks were substandard, but the Army had already bought thousands of them.

Rishi is thought to have collaborated with officials in government-run defence supplier Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML), from whom the Army directly purchased the vehicles.

The CBI has already questioned Rishi, BEML officials including its chairman and managing director V R S Natarajan Natarajan and some retired Army officers.

According to The Economic Times, fresh details unearthed by the CBI show the existence of another trust in Liechtenstein owned by Rishi. The second trust, Deswa Holding Establishment, was started in 1986, when the first contract for Tatra trucks was signed by BEML. Hemang Foundation fully controls Tatra Sipox (UK), which after declaring itself as a "manufacturers' agent" entered into an agreement with BEML for supplying Tatra trucks to the Army.

Indian defence procurement rules prohibit dealings with agents; thus BEML should have signed the contract only with an original equipment manufacturer not with Tatra, which outsources many of the parts for its trucks.

Global Vectra Helicorp Ltd, one of Rishi's Indian companies, in the run-up to its listing on Indian stock exchanges, submitted to the Securities and Exchange Board of India in 2006, "The relation between the Hemang Foundation and the Rishi family is as follows: Hemang Foundation is a registered trust in which the beneficial owners are the family members of Mr Ravinder Kumar Rishi; ie Mrs Deepti Rishi, Suruchi Rishi, Swati Rishi, Rati Rishi & Hemang Rishi. The settler of the Hemang Foundation Trust is Mr Ravinder Kumar Rishi."

The filing said the foundation "in turn is the sole shareholder of Vectra Limited". Vectra Limited fully owns Tatra Sipox (UK).

Meanwhile, the CBI is also examining a likely connection between Madhya Pradesh Indian Administrative Service (IAS) couple Arvind Joshi and Tinoo Joshi, who are also facing graft charges in the case. Both of them have been suspended from the service (See: Crorepati IAS couple faces heat from Enforcement Directorate).

The agency has approached the income tax department to find out if its probe against the Joshis had thrown up any evidence to prove that they knew Tatra truck scam accused Ravi Rishi and benefitted from him materially.

The Joshis are being probed by the IT department for amassing hundreds of crores of rupees in assets illegally; and a tax demand notice of Rs135 crore has been slapped on them.

Arvind Joshi was a joint secretary in the defence ministry between 1999 and 2004 when the Vectra group, owned by Rishi, signed deal to supply light helicopters.

The CBI is also looking at Rishi's Vectra Group acquiring a majority stake in Greater Noida's Indian Exposition Mart Ltd (IEML) at the time when Tinoo Joshi was posted as development commissioner, handicrafts in the ministry of textiles.

The agency is scrutinising the bank accounts of the bureaucrat couple, who were suspended by the state government after the IT department recovered more than Rs3 crore in cash during a raid on their house in February 2010.

The CBI is reportedly examining transaction details of as many as 70 bank accounts of the suspended IAS couple, whose official income would hardly warrant the opening of so many accounts.