Tatra irregularities: CBI quizzes ex-BEML chief

The CBI on Saturday quizzed former chairman-cum-managing director of the public-sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) TVS Shastri in connection with its probe into the Tatra truck deal.

The CBI on Saturday quizzed former chairman-cum-managing director of the public-sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) TVS Shastri in connection with its probe into the Tatra truck deal.

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“CBI officials sought crucial information from Shastri to understand how and when irregularities occurred. We asked him to throw light on the role of certain BEML officials in this connection,” a CBI source told HT.

During his examination, Shastri revealed that though transfer of technology was part of the original 1997 pact between BEML and the Czech Tatra manufacturer, this undertaking allegedly remained unfulfilled, said a CBI official who did not want to be named.

Instead, the BEML signed a fresh pact with an intermediary UK-firm Tatra Sipox in 2003 to execute the technology transfer.