The BEML, under CBI scanner for alleged corruption, had entered into a 10-year agreement with Tatra Sipox UK in 1997 for the supply of components and spares for all-terrain trucks to be supplied to the Army.
The PSU renewed its contract with Tatra Sipox in 2003, four years before scheduled renewal, to extend "further scope of working relationship" with the company, the FIR said.
The BEML "emphasised" that it was entering into a deal with a fully-owned subsidiary of the Czech manufacturer Tatra a.S and not an agent or trader, CBI has alleged.
According to Defence Procurement Rules, there should be no mediator firm or agent between original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and the buyers, which were allegedly violated by the BEML as it inked the agreement with Tatra Sipox UK, which CBI claimed, had nothing to do with either Czech manufacturer Tatra a.S or Slovak manufacturer Tatra Sipox AS.
Czechoslovakia based Tatra, which entered into an agreement with the BEML in 1986, was divided into Tatra a.S, having factory in Czech republic, and Tatra Sipox AS, based in Slovakia, after the division of the country in 1993.
Tatra Sipox UK, with no connections with either of these, started in 1994 in London with a share capital of 15,000 US Dollars and listed its principal activities as "manufacturer's agent" which was later changed it to "other service activities", the records accessed from Companies House UK -- an equivalent of Registrer of Companies here -- show.
