New Delhi: More details of Saddam's efforts to rearm Iraq have come to light with
Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) formally charge sheeting Delhi-based North
Eastern Council (NEC) Engineers Private Ltd and six of its officials for exporting
sensitive items to that country in violation of exim policy guidelines.
According to DRI, NEC was operating through an agent company, al-Najah in Baghdad,
catering mainly to a Jordanian client Mohammed el-Khatib and his son Abu Tariq. Al-
Najah was the authorised representative of the Iraqi administration.
The modus operandi was to procure sensitive materials from "unsuspecting" suppliers
within India for export to Dubai or Jordan by mis-declaring the consignment. The
goods were then diverted to Baghdad.
One such item was a line inter turn insulating machine, which could be used for
winding Teflon tapes on conductors that found application in re-wiring controls of
aviation.
Electrolytic cells used in the manufacture of sodium ammonium perchlorate – a
constituent of missile fuel – were exported to Jordan and diverted to Iraq's al-
Falujah plant.
A consignment of titanium vessels were mis-declared to customs authorities as
Railway tramways. The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) had
confirmed that these items fell under a select list requiring special licence for
export.
But perhaps the most damning revelation was of N Katturajan, an NEC employee, who
said his first assignment in the company was to commission the al-Rashid
establishment chlorate plant in November 1999.
The hosts were Iraq's Ministry of Military Industries, Katturajan said, adding he
had also helped rehabilitate the caustic chlorine plant at Falujah, which was
directly under the Ministry. The ultra pure brine generated here was supplied to the
al-Rasheed plant for producing ammonium perchlorate, which was being used as missile
fuel.
He had come to know about manufacture of ammonium perchlorate and its use as rocket
fuel from two engineers of the government of Iraq, Katturajan said.
During July-August 1998, a team of Iraqi officials led by NEC directors R C P
Choudhary and Hans Raj Shiv visited an alkali plant in Pondicherry, he added.
The charge sheet indicated that a consignment of sensitive membranes for use in the
plants was seized by UN authorities at the Iraq border in 2000- 2001.
Following the revelations, the director general of foreign trade called an inter-
ministerial group meeting in November 2001, which was attended also by the NEC. The
meet asked NEC to explain why it had exported items, which fell in the select list,
without prior approval.
The company took an easy route and replied that it was only a procedural lapse.
The charge sheet also names another Delhi-based firm Pharaohs International Ltd for
colluding with NEC for exporting the prohibited items.
Pharaohs' director Anand Gupta claimed that he had accepted NEC's business offer as
the firm was suffering some losses. However, the invoicing and export documentation
was done by NEC in their name using Pharaohs' stamp and letter heads, he claimed.
PTI
