Indian UN official arrested in graft case
Chidanand Rajghatta
[ 3 Nov, 2006 0024hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
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Chidanand Rajghatta
[ 3 Nov, 2006 0024hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]
RSS Feeds| SMS NEWS to 8888 for latest updates
WASHINGTON: A former Indian government official on
deputation to the United Nations was arrested in New York on Wednesday
in a multi-million dollar bribery case that embarrassingly for
New Delhi involves a Government of India entity.
Sanjay Bahel, who is originally from the Indian Defence Auditing Service (IDAS) cadre, has been charged with steering UN contracts worth more than $ 60 million to Indian entities, including the state-owned Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) represented by Nishan Kohli, and a private firm run by his son Nitin Kohli, in return for a swank Manhattan apartment that was undervalued in a quid pro quo.
Bahel was held at New York's JFK Airport where he had gone to receive a relative, while Nitin Kohli was arrested in Miami. The Government of India has been informed of their arrests and the UN has provided its own final report on the matter to competent authorities of the United States and India, officials said.
Bahel has been in the eye of a storm at the UN for some months now in investigations arising from the oil-for-food scandal.
A mid-level government official who joined the UN system in the 1990s and rose to head its commodity procurement section in Turtle Bay, Bahel is charged by US authorities of consistently favouring the Kohlis, described as family friends, at the expense of other legitimate bidders.
In return, according to the US indictment, Nitin Kohli bought an apartment in midtown Manhattan's Dag Hammarsjold Building in 2003 on East 47th street and provided it to Bahel and Bahel's family rent-free for some months, and a reduced rent of $ 5000 per month (against a market price of $ 86000) for two years
Sanjay Bahel, who is originally from the Indian Defence Auditing Service (IDAS) cadre, has been charged with steering UN contracts worth more than $ 60 million to Indian entities, including the state-owned Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) represented by Nishan Kohli, and a private firm run by his son Nitin Kohli, in return for a swank Manhattan apartment that was undervalued in a quid pro quo.
Bahel was held at New York's JFK Airport where he had gone to receive a relative, while Nitin Kohli was arrested in Miami. The Government of India has been informed of their arrests and the UN has provided its own final report on the matter to competent authorities of the United States and India, officials said.
Bahel has been in the eye of a storm at the UN for some months now in investigations arising from the oil-for-food scandal.
A mid-level government official who joined the UN system in the 1990s and rose to head its commodity procurement section in Turtle Bay, Bahel is charged by US authorities of consistently favouring the Kohlis, described as family friends, at the expense of other legitimate bidders.
In return, according to the US indictment, Nitin Kohli bought an apartment in midtown Manhattan's Dag Hammarsjold Building in 2003 on East 47th street and provided it to Bahel and Bahel's family rent-free for some months, and a reduced rent of $ 5000 per month (against a market price of $ 86000) for two years
In May 2005, Bahel bought the apartment from Kohli for $ 1.2
million, a price so substantially below market value (estimated at $ 2
million) that the condominium board considered exercising its right of
first refusal to block the sale, the indictment said.
The indictment by the U.S Attorney General's office follows an internal investigation by the U.N that lasted months, and which concluded that Bahel had used his position in the procurement division to steer contracts to Nanak Kohli, who is described as the designated U.S.-based representative of TCIL for dealing with the United Nations, and his son Nitin Kohli, of Thunderbird Industries.
The contracts involved purchase of equipment such as radio communications material, computers and technology support for UN operations worldwide.
The procurement division spends a large chunk of the U.N budget, which is bankrolled by the international community, with the United States providing the largest share. The procurement division's annual budget is said to be more than $ 1 billion.
"For Americans and people throughout the world, the United Nations has stood for the dual missions of international diplomacy and humanitarian works. Bahel and Kohli conspired instead to peddle and purchase influence, to pervert the U.N. procurement process for personal profit," federal prosecutor Mark Mershon said.
Following an internal probe, the UN had suspended Bahel without pay since August, while the U.S Attorney General's office took up its own investigation in the context of the larger oil-for-food scandal.
On Wednesday, UN officials said Secretary-General Kofi Annan had lifted Bahel's immunity from prosecution at the request of the Manhattan federal prosecutor.
One Indian official said on background that Bahel had left Indian government service and joined the UN system and as such did not enjoy any immunity provided to diplomats posted abroad on Indian diplomatic passports.
Bahel could not be contacted nor could his attorney be traced. But in earlier interviews, Bahel he had vigorously denied the charges, saying he has â¤good reasons and valid reasons⤠for countering them.
If convicted of the charges, both Bahel and Kohli face up to ten years in prison
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