CBI to request info from Norway

The CBI, probing the $1 million Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited- Yara bribery scandal, is all set to send a judicial request to Norway to get details about a firm based there. According to sources, the agency may send a judicial request or letter rogatory (LR) to Norway next month. The agency in May 2015 had registered an FIR against a former senior bureaucrat posted with the Union ministry of chemicals and fertilisers and his family members for allegedly receiving a bribe of $1 million (about Rs 6.4 crore) in a joint venture deal between Kribhco and the Norwegian fertiliser major “Yara” in 2006-07.

The case was registered against the accused under the provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC. “The agency sleuths want certain clarification from the authorities concerned in Norway in connection with the case. We may soon send a judicial request in this regard,” a senior official of the agency said. The CBI in 2014 had started an inquiry into the alleged pay-off of $1 million to the suspected public servant and his son by the Norwegian company for securing a joint venture. “Investigations by the agency have revealed that the Norwegian firm was allegedly negotiating with Kribhco during 2006-07 for setting up a joint venture project. In April 2011, Yara International appointed law firm Wiersholm to conduct an external investigation in this matter. Yara in June 2012, had released the main findings of the investigation which said that an unacceptable payment of $1 million in 2007 to a consultant in India is documented, related to negotiations with Kribhco,” sources said.

The CBI had started inquiry based on statements from Yara and Norwegian prosecution agency Okokrim in this regard, naming the accused and his son as suspects.

The Norwegian firm had allegedly accepted a penalty of 270 million Norwegian Krone imposed on it by Okokrim for the alleged payoffs made to a “consultant for an unrealised project in India”, sources said.

“Our acknowledgement of guilt and acceptance of a fine reflect that the Okokrim findings are in line with those of our own investigation. The penalty is severe but we accept it,” a top official of Yara International had said in a statement.