London-based Brazillian businessman A E Pinto, one of the main accused in the Rs 133 crore urea scandal, was formally taken into custody by the CBI after being extradited from Britain. Pinto, who arrived at the agency headquarters on Thursday afternoon, is the third person to have been extradited in the scam. Earlier, Cihan Caranci and Tunkey Alankus of Karsan were extradited from Switzerland in 1997. Pinto, whose last ditch appeals before the British home office was dismissed on Wednesday evening, did not reply to queries by mediapersons and instead chose to walk staright into the headquarters. “No comments and I would not like to speak,” Pinto told the anxiously waiting mediapersons. A three-member CBI team comprising Deputy Legal Advisor V N Ohja, Deputy Superintendent of Police N K Mukherjee and Inspector Hardeep Singh, which left for London on Sunday, received the green signal on Wednesday evening from the British home office for taking Pinto to India to stand trial in the case. The British home department ordered extradition of Pinto, an agent of Turkish firm Karsan, after the CBI accused him of having received kickbacks in the scam.
According to sources, the extradition could help unravel some details on how money changed hands in securing the deal and who were the key persons who swung the deal in favour of Karsan limited.
Bureau Report