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AgustaWestland chopper scam: ED files chargesheet against Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri

Ratul Puri was arrested on September 4 for his alleged involvement in receiving kickbacks in the AgustaWestland deal through his companies. He is currently in judicial custody.

AgustaWestland chopper scam: ED files chargesheet against Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri

Ratul Puri (Photo: IANS)

The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday filed a supplementary charge sheet against Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s nephew Ratul Puri before a Delhi court in the money laundering case related to alleged AgustaWestland chopper scam.

The charge sheet was filed before Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar and the matter is slated for hearing post lunch.

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This is the sixth supplementary charge sheet in the case and the first against Ratul Puri. Besides Puri, one more accused has been named in the charge sheet.

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Ratul Puri was arrested on September 4 for his alleged involvement in receiving kickbacks in the AgustaWestland deal through his companies. He is currently in judicial custody.

The probe agency has alleged that accounts associated with firms owned and operated by Ratul Puri were used to receive kickbacks and launder money in AgustaWestland the deal.

The money laundering case was lodged following alleged irregularities in the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from Italy-based Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary, AgustaWestland.

Ratul Puri was earlier arrested in another case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or PMLA for alleged bank fraud after he appeared before the central probe agency in Delhi in the chopper scam after it had filed a fresh criminal case against him and others, taking cognisance of a CBI First Information Report or FIR.

The money laundering case emerged from a CBI case filed on August 17, in which Ratul Puri, his father Deepak Puri, mother Nita (Kamal Nath’s sister) and others were booked in connection with a Rs. 354-crore bank fraud case filed by the Central Bank of India.

The CBI had earlier last year alleged there was an estimated loss of Euro 398.21 million – about Rs 2,666 crore – to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth Euro 556.262 million.

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