Urea scam: CBI court imposes Rs 100 cr penalty on 2 Turkish nationals

New Delhi, July 12: A special CBI court today imposed one of the highest penalties in corruption cases – Rs 100 crore – on two Turkish nationals in the 23-year-old Rs 133 crore urea scam case and sentenced them to six years of rigorous imprisonment along with the kin of a former prime minister and an ex-Union minister, officials said.
Along with Turkish nationals Tuncay Alankus and Cihan Karanci, both former executives of Karsan Ltd, the Tis Hazari court also convicted company’s Indian representative M Sambasiva Rao, former CMD of National Fertilizer Limited (NFL) C K Ramakrishnan, former Executive Director NFL Dilbag Singh Kanwar, D Mallesam Goud, former Union minister Ramlakhan Singh Yadav’s son Prakash Chandra Yadav and former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao’s relative Sanjeeva Rao in the case, they said.
The court sentenced Ramakrishnan and Kanwar to three years of imprisonment and imposed Rs 6 lakh fine, Sambasiva Rao to three years of imprisonment and Rs 5 crore fine, Goud to three years imprisonment and Rs 5 crore fine, Sanjeeva Rao to three years jail and Rs one crore fine, and Yadav to three years jail and Rs one crore fine, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.
The CBI had registered the urea scam case on May 19, 1996 against on the allegations that the accused persons entered into criminal conspiracy and cheated the National Fertilizer Limited to the tune of Rs. 133 crore, officials said.
“In furtherance of conspiracy accused Tuncay Alankus of Turkey signed a contract dated January 9, 1995 to supply 200000 MT of urea at the rate of USD 190 per MT on pre payment of 100 per cent price which was about USD 38 million equivalent to Rs. 133 Crore(approx),” the agency said.
Alankus received USD 3,80,000 on November 2, 1995 as advance for insurance purpose and USD 37.62 million from NFL on November 14, 1995 which was credited in the account of Karsan Ltd. on November 29, 1995 at Pictet Bank, Geneva, Switzerland but they did not supply urea to NFL.
The agency filed the charge sheet in 1997.
It was alleged that Alankus “dishonestly” transferred the amount in various foreign banks and in the account of Karanci. Indian accused had received the money through hawala channel.