Does BJP’s Siddharth Nath Singh have biz links to dubious arms dealer Bhandari?

Does BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh have business links to dubious arms dealer Sanjay Bhandari? 476 minutes of talk-time intercepted by the Income tax department has traced the link between the former BJP- in charge of Bengal, who coined the slogan, Bhag Mamata bhag! and a senior editor of a Delhi -based national daily.

A probe by the IT department into the transactions of arms dealer Bhandari has already turned the spotlight on his alleged links with Congress chief Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. Especially, with regard to the ownership of a house in central London. The IT investigations have revealed that the same arms dealer was in frequent touch with BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh and the newspaper editor. Singh while talking to NDTV has confirmed that he had ‘long and close personal ties with Bhandari. But it is a social relationship and friendship, not a business relationship.’ He said that the Congress had sought an investigation into this. “I have no issue with it. Please go ahead and carry out an investigation.”

Sanjay Bhandari became a high flying defence consultant and liaison services provider after setting up Offset India Solutions (OIS) Group in 2008 with a paid-up capital of just Rs. 1 lakh. Positioning himself up as an executor of offset obligations as MoD made it mandatory in 2005 for foreign firms bagging arms deal in excess of Rs. 300 crore to plough back at least 30% of the contract value back into India as offset.

OIS now has companies in the fields of defence, aerospace and security, handling business to the tune of several hundred crores. Emails between Robert Vadra and his assistant and Bhandari’s ex-aide refer to purchase of a house in central London for Rs. 19 crore in 2009.

IT department sleuths have already traced 50 shell companies where Bhandari was a conduit. The 

senior  Delhi-based editor, whose close link has been established, has unlimited access to the corridors of power. The defence ministry is conducting an inquiry into the “leak” of some of its “classified” documents dealing with big-ticket procurements and plans, that were seized during the tax raids. This comes close on the heels of the home ministry writing to the defence ministry to ascertain whether a criminal case, including slapping the stringent Official Secret Act (OSA), could be registered against Bhandari, who from virtual obscurity emerged as a big fish in the lucrative Indian defence market.

Sources said, “The MoD (ministry of defence) will give its opinion after scrutinising the documents received from the MHA, which in turn is the deciding authority as far as prosecution sanctions under the OSA are concerned. The inquiry will try to get to the bottom of how internal defence ministry documents were leaked. It is a sensitive matter.”

The documents seized from Bhandari range from proposals being moved before the Defence Acquisitions Council (DAC), which is chaired by the defence minister and includes the top military brass as well as civilian bureaucrats, to internal CNC (Contract Negotiation Committee) reports on mega defence purchases. Singh’s recent purchase of a plush property in Noida is also under close surveillance of the IT department.  

Incidentally, May 2014, Bhandari’s name figured among defence sector ‘agents’ in the covert dossiers of Intelligence men and Income Tax officials. Bhandari suddenly emerged as India’s number one arms dealer. Income Tax officials swooped down on 18 of his premises after keeping him on the radar following the sudden exponential growth of his business in recent years. In a big killing, OIS had clinched an agreement with French defence major Rafaut to supply parts for 38 combat aircraft that India was procuring from Dassault Aviation. 

Another JV with LH Aviation was set up to make a new class of high endurance Medium Altitude, Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in India.. Through the joint venture, OIS was planning to make LH-D-UAVs locally for the Indian market. For that deal alone, Bhandari was suspected to have pocketed a neat Rs 69.38 crore from 35 shell companies between 2009 and 2014. 

Bhandari who was jailed in early 2000 for tax evasion in a case that involved import of foreign cars (his high-profile clients then included the likes of veteran communist leader Jyoti Basu’s son Chandan Basu), has in recent years become part of Lutyens’ Delhi’s creme-de-la-creme. 

IT raids at his numerous properties in early May have revealed that he was using his powerful connections to swing lucrative deals. Law enforcement agencies expect Bhandari to come clean soon.