Tatra Truck scam explained

Tatra Truck scam is a scam that came to light in 2012. Tatra is a truck manufacturing company based in the Czech Republic. The allegation is that the Tatra trucks were sold at a very high cost to the Indian army through an unusual route. Following is the flow in which the Tatra deal happened.

• Tatra sold trucks first to a Hong Kong-based company called Venus Projects at a 35% discount. The company is the trading arm of Vectra Worldwide. If the deal had been made directly with India, the discount benefits would have been availed by the Indian army.
• Further, the trucks were purchased by Tatra Sipox (UK) Ltd from Venus Projects. Tatra Sipox is another subsidiary of Vectra Worldwide.
• Tatra Sipox sold the trucks to BEML, a company owned by the government of India, at an inflated price after adding the profit.
• These trucks were then purchased by the Indian Army from BEML for a further 25 to 35 percent more.^{[1] [2]}

The Indian Army (original buyer) ended up purchasing the trucks for 100 to 120 percent more than the factory price.^[3] Approximately INR 170 crores cash flow into an Indian company was being predicted in relation to this scam.^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tatra scam: Rs 750 crore siphoned off, CBI finds no evidence. Reetu. 2014-08-27. oneindia.com. en. 2019-08-29.
2. Web site: TATRA TRUCK SCAM. www.indianmirror.com. 2019-08-29.
3. Web site: FAQ: All you wanted to know about the army-Tatra scam. Rediff. en. 2019-08-26.
4. Web site: Tatra trucks scam: Antony admitted VK Singh told him about bribe. Firstpost. 2019-08-29.
5. News: Tatra deal: ED probing Rs 170 crore cash inflow. 2013-03-16. The Economic Times. 2019-08-26.
6. Web site: Rs 14-crore bribe offer to army chief exposes scam worth crores in Tatra trucks. NDTV.com. 2019-08-26.
7. Web site: Tatra truck scam: CBI gears up to finalise chargesheet. Pioneer. The. The Pioneer. en. 2019-08-29.