CBI probing Norway’s kickback findings in Yara-Kribhco deal
05 Feb 2014
The Central Bureau of Investigation is looking into allegations of kickbacks to a former senior bureaucrat and his son in a joint venture between Norwegian fertiliser company Yara and India's Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (Kribhco) launched in 2007.
Officials in the CBI confirmed today that an investigation has been launched into the alleged $1 million payoff, but the agency is undecided on whether to file a mere preliminary enquiry or register a regular case.
The CBI had recently obtained statements from Yara and the Norwegian prosecution agency Okokrim, naming Jivtesh Singh Maini and his son Gurpreteesh Singh Maini as suspects in the case. The CBI official said the duo would be questioned. (See: Norway exposes kickbacks in aborted Indian fertilizer deal).
Yara had accepted a 270-million kroner penalty imposed by Okokrim on the alleged payoffs made to a "consultant" for an unrealised project in India.
Bernt Reitan, chairman of the board of Yara International ASA, had said in a statement, "Our acknowledgement of guilt and acceptance of a fine reflect that the Okokrim findings are in line with those of our own investigation. The penalty is severe but we accept it."
The company was negotiating with Kribhco during 2006-07 for setting up a joint venture project. In April 2011, Yara International appointed law firm Wiersholm to conduct an external investigation in this matter.
Yara in June 2012 had released the main findings of the investigation which said that "an unacceptable payment of $1 million in 2007 to a consultant in India is documented, related to negotiations with Kribhco."
The allegations have been denied by Kribhco which had said that its officials were not involved in any wrongdoing with Yara, which was fined $48 million by Norway's Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Okokrim).
