When contacted, a defence ministry spokesperson said: “The DRDO is not yet aware of the developments”.
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Embraer and the DRDO signed the deal for three aircraft equipped with indigenous radars for AEW&C (airborne early warning and control systems) in 2008.
This comes after a report in Brazilian newspaper “Folha de Sao Paulo”, saying investigations have been opened by the U.S. government to establish whether Embraer paid bribes to obtain contracts overseas.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has chose to seek explanation from Embraer, the Brazilian aircraft maker, with regard to the alleged payment of kickbacks in the jet deal inked during the UPA government.
According to the Brazilian media report, Embraer allegedly drew up a contract that hired a representative for the Indian deal and a copy of the contract was kept in a safe in England, with one key held by the Brazilian company and another by the representative hired.
The AEW&C system, the reports said, is still not ready as the DRDO has missed several deadlines. Embraer has been under probe by the USA justice department since 2010 after a contract with the Dominican Republic had raised doubts.
The deal was worth $208 million.
According to Folha de SaoPaulo reports, the company’s sales in Saudi Arabia are aldo being dragged into the investigation. The first aircraft was delivered in 2011, and the other two were delivered later. The company has put Dollars 200 million aside to pay any eventual fines that come about as a result of the process.
A joint US-Brazil investigation into Embraer, a Brazilian aircraft manufacturer, has uncovered a bribery case leading to India.
In both cases, suspicions were underlined in May this year when an employee with more than 30 years at the company reached a plea-bargain agreement in investigations being conducted by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in Brazil.
Embraer, which has not denied the charges, told ET that it is cooperating with authorities on alleged violations, and confirmed that it has expanded an internal investigation.
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Three Embraer officials are being probed in the 2008 Indian deal. The amount of the deal was not announced at the time. A few months ago, there were allegations of commissions and middlemen in what has come to be known as the VVIP chopper scam.
