Urea scam accused remanded to CBI custody

NEW DELHI, AUG. 25. The London-based Brazilian businessman, A.E. Pinto, one of the main accused in the Rs. 133 crore urea scam, was today remanded to CBI custody for six days.

Pinto was produced in the court of special judge, Mr. V.B. Gupta, who remanded him to CBI custody till August 31.

He was formally taken into custody by the CBI after being extradited from Britain. Earlier, Cihan Caranci and Tunkey Alankus of Karsan were extradited from Switzerland in 1997. Pinto's last ditch appeals before the British Home Office were dismissed on Aug 23.

A three-member CBI team comprising Mr. V.N. Ohja, Mr. N.K. Mukherjee and Mr. Hardeep Singh, which left for London on Sunday, received the green signal on Thursday from the British Home Office for taking Pinto to India to stand trial in the case.

The Home department ordered the extradition of Pinto, an agent of the Turkish firm Karsan, after the CBI accused him of having received kickbacks in the scam.

According to sources, the extradition could help unravel some details on how money changed hands in securing the deal and who were the key persons who swung the deal in favour of Karsan Limited.

CBI sources said Pinto had signed a contract with the National Fertilizer Limited (NFL) for supply of urea four months before the Rs. 133 crore deal was signed with Karsan.

When the three lakh tonnes of urea did not reach Delhi on schedule as per the contract Pinto visited India in late 1995 to assure NFL officials that the supplies would be reaching soon.

The CBI issued a letter to authorities in London, seeking help in locating Pinto. He was traced easily as he was under detention in London for a traffic offence.

- PTI

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