AI deployed bigger aircraft for Praful Patel's family

The Air India had deployed larger aircraft to apparently accommodate the family of the then Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel on their trip to Bangalore-Maldives in April 2010, file notings disclosed by the national carrier indicate.

It had earlier been claimed that since the seven business class seats were already booked on the IC-965, flying from Bangalore to Male, Air India switched to bigger aircraft A320, with 20 business class seats, to accommodate seven members of Deshpande family -- in-laws of Patel's daughter Avni.

The passenger list now disclosed after the directives of the Central Information Commission shows that the Deshpandes were indeed on board IC-965 April 25, 2010 for Bangalore-Male and IC-966 from Male to Bangalore on April 28, 2010.

The list shows seven family members who travelled on the flights included Congress leader R V Deshpande, Radha Deshpande, Prasad Deshpande, Meghna Deshpande and Master Dhruv, in addition to Avni and her husband Prashant Deshpande.

According to the disclosure, the notings show that instructions were issued over email from Mumbai Headquarters to change the "equipment" of Bangalore Male flight on April 25 and Male Bangalore on April 28, 2010 from a smaller Airbus A319 to larger A 320.

The Air India normally plies Airbus A 319 aircraft on the route which is smaller one with eight business class seats and 114 economy class seats.

The order, a copy of which was supplied with the RTI reply said, "Due to heavy demand in J Class on Bangalore Male on April 25, 2010 and Male Bangalore on April 28, 2010, the J Class capacity is increased on the above two dates by rotation change in equipment."

Union Minister Praful Patel fights bribery charge, writes to PM

Union Minister Praful Patel on Thursday  found himself at the centre of pay-off allegations concerning a USD 100 million Air India contract during his tenure as Civil Aviation Minister, but he rubbished the charges as "baseless and preposterous".

A leading Canadian newspaper, Globe and the Mail, reported that an Indian-born Canadian citizen, Nazir Karigar, is to be prosecuted on charges of paying off Patel in a case in which a former Mumbai police chief also figures.

Karigar is accused of paying bribes and being involved in a bid-rigging scheme in 2007 in an unsuccessful attempt to win the contract from Air India for computerised passenger face recognition biometrics system. The airline ultimately abandoned the plans for such a system.

According to the newspaper, investigators allege that in early 2007, Karigar met Patel, now Minister for Heavy Industries, along with one of his political allies Laxman Dhoble.

Later, Karigar described to others, including one cooperating witness from CryptoMetrics, the company bidding for the contract, how he allegedly gave USD 250,000 to Dhoble "to pass on to Mr Patel so the Minister could use his influence to make the project happen," the report said.

Part of the movement of that money has been documented in a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of New York where CryptoMetrics sued Karigar, saying that it had paid him USD 250,000 on the condition that Air India contract would be signed within days, it said.

However, the newspaper also stated that there is no evidence in the court records that Patel received the money.

Stoutly denying the allegations, Patel, when contacted for his reaction, said the claims of bribery appeared to be "a perfect con job" by somebody trying to convince his company that he could deliver a contract if he is paid.

Patel disclosed that he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh soon after the Delhi bureau chief of Globe and Mail had sought his reaction to the allegations on Monday.

He told the Prime Minister that he had made it clear to the journalist that the allegations were baseless and preposterous and that he would be constrained to examine all legal options to counter them.

Meanwhile, he had made some "preliminary enquiries" with Air India which had informed him that in 2006 the airline had floated a tender for the equipment. The tender was, however, scrapped "virtually at the inception", he wrote.

The Minister requested Singh to direct Air India to forward all relevant information and documents of the tender to PMO or to any agency "nominated by you".

He also wanted "factual position" to be conveyed to the authorities in Canada in order to avoid any embarrassment to the government or to him personally.

The newspaper said that the Canadian Justice Department was planning to prosecute Karigar on charges that he violated the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act, a law that forbids payment of bribes abroad. The case is scheduled to be heard in September.

According to the newspaper, the case has been in the making for more than four years and involves Karigar, the bankrupt Ottawa-area tech firm, former Mumbai Police Chief Hasan Gafoor and Patel. The newspaper quoted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) as alleging that Gafoor who was then Director of Security at Air India, had conspired with Karigar, his childhood friend.

In a telephone interview to the newspaper, Gafoor denied helping Karigar rig the contract in favour of CryptoMetrics, saying that another department at Air India was responsible for awarding such contracts.

Gafoor stated that he had not spoken to Karigar in two or three years and was unaware that he had been implicated in a criminal conspiracy along with him.
He also pointed out that CryptoMetrics did not get the contract, "nor did anything come out of it".

The newspaper claimed that interviews with a number of sources close to the investigation as well as a review of documents filed in two legal proceedings in the US have revealed that the charges related to Karigar were on behalf of CryptoMetrics, a company which had offices in New York area, Ottawa and Mumbai and which declared bankruptcy shortly after Karigar was charged.

Quoting RCMP, it alleged that CryptoMetrics had received an internal draft copy of the Air India tender two months before it was officially released to other potential bidders.

It also alleged that at least USD 250,000 was wired by CryptoMetrics to India and distributed to Gafoor's Air India "co-workers, including a deputy in the security division." Gafoor denied knowing about any bribes paid by Karigar to his staff.

Police sources were also quoted to say that Karigar and CryptoMetrics invited Air India officials to become part owners in the company and were offered shares. Police said the inducement ensured that only two firms were shortlisted for the contract, CryptoMetrics and a lesser known Canadian firm, Ipcon, the latter being a dormant company founded by Karigar.

Dhoble, described as Patel's political ally, had declined to comment on the allegations in detail, the paper said.