New Delhi – Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has written to the Ministry of Defence to seek a detailed information of the Tatra truck deal meant for the Indian Army, it has also summoned Ravi Rishi, the Chairman of the London-based Vectra Group and the largest shareholder of Tatra trucks.
The CBI has asked Rishi to come for the meeting with all records of his company’s deals with the Indian Army.
It has already registered a First Information Report (FIR) in the Tatra- Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) deal under which all-terrain vehicles are supplied to the Indian Army.
The FIR has been registered under Section 13(1D) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code Sections 120 B and 420 for crimminal conspiracy and cheating.
Rishi has been summoned Army Chief General VK Singh’s allegation that he was offered a bribe of Rs.14 crore to clear 600 sub-standard vehicles supplied by Tatra.
General Singh has alleged that a recently retired army officer representing Tatra trucks offered him the bribe.
The name of the retired officer doing the rounds is that of former army defence intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Tejinder Singh, who has filed a defamation suit against General Singh and four other senior army officers, including the Vice-Chief of Army Staff S.K. Singh
The investigating agency is likely to search Tatra’s offices in India in connection with the case.
Rishi met senior CBI officials on Thursday and offered his cooperation in the investigation into the bribery allegation levelled by the Army Chief.
Earlier, Rishi had denied that his company offered bribe to General Singh claiming that he did not deal directly with the Defence Ministry or the army chief.
New Delhi – Even as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has written to the Ministry of Defence to seek a detailed information of the Tatra truck deal meant for the Indian Army, it has also summoned Ravi Rishi, the Chairman of the London-based Vectra Group and the largest shareholder of Tatra trucks.
The CBI has asked Rishi to come for the meeting with all records of his company’s deals with the Indian Army.
It has already registered a First Information Report (FIR) in the Tatra- Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) deal under which all-terrain vehicles are supplied to the Indian Army.
The FIR has been registered under Section 13(1D) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code Sections 120 B and 420 for crimminal conspiracy and cheating.
Rishi has been summoned Army Chief General VK Singh’s allegation that he was offered a bribe of Rs.14 crore to clear 600 sub-standard vehicles supplied by Tatra.
General Singh has alleged that a recently retired army officer representing Tatra trucks offered him the bribe.
The name of the retired officer doing the rounds is that of former army defence intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Tejinder Singh, who has filed a defamation suit against General Singh and four other senior army officers, including the Vice-Chief of Army Staff S.K. Singh
The investigating agency is likely to search Tatra’s offices in India in connection with the case.
Rishi met senior CBI officials on Thursday and offered his cooperation in the investigation into the bribery allegation levelled by the Army Chief.
Earlier, Rishi had denied that his company offered bribe to General Singh claiming that he did not deal directly with the Defence Ministry or the army chief.
Rishi in an interview claimed he owned 66 % of Tatra Koprivnice
“After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Rishi started picking up “business assets” from Czechoslovakia either to “turn them around and then sell to make good profit or to retain them”, he says. “We acquired 17 factories in 1991-92 alone. Czechoslovakia was well-known for automotive engineering units. So we picked up factories making bearings, woodworking, cranes, etc,” says he.
“We got into trucks the year Czechoslovakia was divided into Slovakia and Czech Republic – in 1993,” says the man who has never lived in East Europe. “You have great incentives in going there, but not in living there.” He guffaws and then settles for a bland smile.
Vectra owns 100% of Tatra Slovakia and nearly 66% of Tatra Czech Republic, claims he. “The undercarriage [for Tatra trucks] is made in Slovakia. Engines, cabin etc are made in the Czech Republic,” he says of the vehicle that is in the eye of a storm in India.
“We sell Tatra trucks to 58 countries and 38 armies and they include the US, Russia, Israel, Brazil, UAE and others,” Rishi says. Interestingly, on Tatra Czech Republic’s website, Rishi finds mention only as a member of its supervisory board.” http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-04-01/news/31267007_1_tatra-trucks-vectra-group-army-chief-vk-singh
India is questioning the quality of the Tatra trucks
A joint team of the Ministry of Defence and CBI, which recently visited the defence PSU, BEML, at four locations near Bangalore, has found that an “obsolete technology” was being used for manufacturing Tatra trucks.
The four-member team visited BEML plants at Bangalore, Mysore, Kolar Gold Fields and Palakkad.
The joint team included three colonel-level officers from Defence Procurement and Wartime Equipment, MoD. The team will shortly submit a detailed report.
Sources said the indigenisation target of Tatra trucks, as agreed upon in the documents signed in 1987, 1997 and 2003, have not been met so far. According to the contracts signed by BEML with Tatra Sipox, it was agreed upon that more than 80 per cent of indigenisation of the trucks should have been completed before 2003. It has been learnt that the cabin, backbone tube and half swing axle being used in the trucks are still being imported. The axle and backbone are being supplied by Slovakia and the cabin by Czech Republic. “According to terms of agreement, Tatra Siphox, UK, is responsible for procurement of these items which form nearly 60 per cent of the trucks being supplied to the Army,” said a senior official.
The technology used in these trucks is ‘obsolete’, and when the BEML signed a new agreement in 2003, they agreed for a 10-year-old expertise, said sources. The 2003 agreement was signed after BEML CMD V R S Natarajan took over the company.
The team also examined some BEML officials at different plants to understand the transfer of technology. The agency has learnt that transfer of technology was part of the original agreement between BEML and Czech company Tatra, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for supply of the trucks, in 1986. However, Natarajan signed the new contract and is alleged to have misled the defence PSU into signing a fresh agreement in 2003 with UK-based Tatra Sipox, an intermediary firm and not an OEM.
Part of India’s investigation and Tatra’s ownership questions will be a visit to Koprivnice.
The CBI is planning to approach Czech-based Tatra a.s to ascertain the reasons for supplying older technology based all-terrain vehicles to BEML even though it has better versions available.
Although the CBI has decided to send the query through Letters Rogatory (Letters of Request), the agency is also planning to send a team to Czech Republic to meet the executives of the company in this regard, sources in the agency said.
This is the first time the CBI will be approaching Original Equipment Manufacturer Tatra a.s in connection with the all terrain vehicle supply case even as it had questioned Vectra Chairman Ravinder Rishi and BEML officials repeatedly.
The CBI sources said no irregularity has surfaced on the part of Tatra a.s so far and neither the company is an accused in the case so there are no reasons to not cooperate in the probe.
The sources said despite clause of indigenisation and upgradation of technology in the original agreement signed with Tatra a.s, the indigenisation process remained way behind satisfactory levels.
They said the trucks which are now assembled by BEML and supplied to Indian Army have not performed well in higher altitude and despite red flags raised by Army several times, the PSU continued supplying older technology vehicles.
CBI sources said DRDO also procured vehicles from Tatra for its missile systems which fared much better than those procured by the Army through BEML.
The agency is probing alleged irregularities in assigning supply from the Czechoslovakia-based Tatra, with which the agreement was originally signed in 1986, to the Tatra-Sipox UK owned by Rishi in 1997 showing it as Original Equipment Manufacturer and the fully-owned subsidiary of the Czech company which was against rules, they said.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_cbi-likely-to-approach-czech-based-tatra_1698043
Home About the Company Press and Media News Winning a prestigious contest
Winning a prestigious contest
The online presentation of TATRA, a. s. won the WebTop100 contest in the automotive category. The TATRA website underwent a significant upgrade earlier this year and it outperformed other renowned Czech automotive companies in this competition.
Send by e-mail Print Kopřivnice (November 3, 2011) – WebTop100 is a contest providing an opportunity to companies operating in the Czech Republic to compare their web presentations with competitors and get valuable ideas for their continuous improvement. Based on their evaluation, the jury makes a ranking list of the most successful websites.
Besides the main ranking, industry and special ranking lists are drawn up. Each applicant receives individual written assessment by all the jury members considering the website from different points of view.
Eleven industry ranking lists were announced for 2011. TATRA, a. s. won the first place in the “AUTO-MOTO” industry ranking list, and beat traditionally successful automotive industry brands.
Winners
“AUTO-MOTO” industry ranking list WebTop100 2011
1 TATRA, a. s. 64.0 points
2 ŠKODA AUTO, a.s. 62.2 points
3 Motohouse.cz 40.8 points
„We are very excited about winning this prestigious contest. It provides further motivation for our work. TATRA, a. s. is a truly customer-oriented company which highly values effective interaction with its customers, as well as partners and fans. Having a new truck model range – the TATRA PHOENIX – and a system of after-sales services, we are delivering on our strategy of global presence and delivery of valuable solutions to our customers from various industry segments. This strategy and values are surely reflected in our web presentation, which is one of our primary marketing communication tools. We believe that our company´s website design earns a respectable position on a global scale of automotive players among which, and there is no doubt about that, TATRA belongs,” said on the occasion of the winner announcement of the WebTop100 ranking lists Martin Najzr, TATRA Chief Marketing Officer.
The online presentation of TATRA, a. s. won the WebTop100 contest in the automotive category. The TATRA website underwent a significant upgrade earlier this year and it outperformed other renowned Czech automotive companies in this competition.
WebTop100 is a contest providing an opportunity to companies operating in the Czech Republic to compare their web presentations with competitors and get valuable ideas for their continuous improvement. Based on their evaluation, the jury makes a ranking list of the most successful websites.
Besides the main ranking, industry and special ranking lists are drawn up. Each applicant receives individual written assessment by all the jury members considering the website from different points of view.
Eleven industry ranking lists were announced for 2011. TATRA, a. s. won the first place in the “AUTO-MOTO” industry ranking list, and beat traditionally successful automotive industry brands.
Winners
“AUTO-MOTO” industry ranking list WebTop100 2011
1 TATRA, a. s. 64.0 points
2 ŠKODA AUTO, a.s. 62.2 points
3 Motohouse.cz 40.8 points
„We are very excited about winning this prestigious contest. It provides further motivation for our work. TATRA, a. s. is a truly customer-oriented company which highly values effective interaction with its customers, as well as partners and fans. Having a new truck model range – the TATRA PHOENIX – and a system of after-sales services, we are delivering on our strategy of global presence and delivery of valuable solutions to our customers from various industry segments. This strategy and values are surely reflected in our web presentation, which is one of our primary marketing communication tools. We believe that our company´s website design earns a respectable position on a global scale of automotive players among which, and there is no doubt about that, TATRA belongs,” said on the occasion of the winner announcement of the WebTop100 ranking lists Martin Najzr, TATRA Chief Marketing Officer.
Source: http://www.tatratrucks.com/
Question: Jerry Revich – Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Research Division
And Mark, can you talk about your vision for the TATRA business specifically? Did you anticipate at some point owning a bigger piece of the company? I guess what’s the extent of the opportunity here?
Answer: Mark C. Pigott – CEO Paccar
Well, full points to you for asking that question. TATRA, of course, we’ve known TATRA for a long time. They’ve been around, well, for over a century. And right now, our focus with TATRA, and I just came back from Europe recently and drove an 8×8 TATRA through our most rigorous off-road course and it handles beautifully, is really to sell that product through our DAF dealer network in addition to TATRA’s own network. And I think you’ve seen a picture. There’s been a couple of articles in the commercial truck press. I know there’s a good one in Commercial Motor magazine in the U.K. in the last couple of weeks. So that’s going to be the focus. Initially, we’ll be in Europe. And it’s an adjunct product. This is not a mainstream product. It’s focused off highway. But there’s good demand for it. And then over time, we’ll take a look at other opportunities to use that product around the world. Initial focus is certainly in Europe.
http://seekingalpha.com/article/302041-paccar-s-ceo-discusses-q3-2011-results-earnings-call-transcript?all=true&find=tatra
Starting this year, a new heavy truck line TATRA PHOENIX extends the special sector range of the Kopřivnice-based TATRA, a. s. The high mobility heavy duty defense truck program thus has at its disposal a state-of-the-art, competitive and at the same time highly efficient solution.
Exactly according to the approved production target, series production of the new model TATRA PHOENIX range was started in the last week of the September.
Czechtrade.nl has written that the Czech ambassador in Holland Jaroslav Horak visited DAF Eindhoven on October 21. The visit was meant to underline the Czech-Dutch Tatra Phoenix cooperation. Further it became known that both Daf and Tatra will try to supply the Dutch army with 3500 5-ton trucks, once the present Dutch DAF trucks will be replaced in the near future. The 3500 trucks will be part of a new cargo system.