Indian arms dealer to be a Lord in UK?
TNN | Oct 22, 2013, 06.09 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Sudhir Choudhrie, one of India's most notorious arms-dealers and who
figures in CBI's list of "undesirable contact men", may soon end up finding
a seat in the UK's
House of Lords.
If the proposal of ruling British party
Liberal Democrats goes through, then Choudhrie would add yet another
sensational twist to his already cinematic life.
According to British media reports,
British deputy PM Nick Clegg has proposed that Choudhrie, one of the biggest
political donors to Liberal Democrats, be appointed a peer.
The move would come at a time when the
Italian authorities and CBI are investigating the VVIP helicopter scandal, in
which Finmeccanica's former senior executives have claimed that Choudhrie was
the Italian consortium's middleman for India contracts in the past.
He also figures in the CBI's FIR into the
Barak missile scandal, though he is not named an accused. Another FIR, naming
Choudhrie an accused, was closed a few months ago by CBI, which said it had no
concrete evidence.
He has also been identified by the CBI in
a list of 23 undesirable contact men, with whom government departments and
officials are not to have any business. Government officials are also supposed
not to have any social contacts and not to accept hospitality or gifts from
them.
According to reports, Choudhrie's family
has donated more than £640,000 to Liberal Democrats since 2004. He has
personally given £95,000 while family companies gave at least £525,000 to the
ruling party, according to them.
Choudhrie runs several companies in the UK, India and elsewhere. The parent
company of many of his firms are Harberry Investments, which is based in the
tax haven of British Virgin Islands.
Choudhrie is believed to be India's most
powerful arms-dealer. He has extensive interests in Europe, Israel, and Russia. He is also suspected to
partially control defence firms at least in Israel.
Rising with the help of an uncle who once
was a senior official with the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited ( HAL), Choudhrie
has had a dizzying growth as an arms-dealer over the last three decades.
Through extensive use of tax havens and powerful political-bureaucratic and
military contacts, he is suspected to have swung major defence contracts in India.
If Choudhrie becomes a peer in UK, it
would be a new high for illegal arms-dealers operating in Indian market.
House of Lords
House
of Lords and the House of Commons
are houses for the British Parliament.
Note: Shirley
Williams is a member of the House of Lords,
a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), and was the commissioner for the International
Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
Alexei
Arbatov is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), and was the commissioner for the International
Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
William
J. Perry is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and was the commissioner for the International
Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
Better
World Fund was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank).
Gro
Harlem Brundtland is a director at the Better World Fund,
and was the commissioner for the International Commission
on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
Nafis Sadik
is a director at the Better World Fund,
and a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank).
Hisashi
Owada is a director at the Better World Fund,
a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank), and was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Charles
D. Powell is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think
tank), and an independent member for House of
Lords.
Walter
Isaacson is the president & CEO for the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and was the chairman & CEO for CNN.
Ted Turner
is the founder & chairman for the Better World Fund,
the founder for CNN, and a co-chairman for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank) was
a funder for the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank).
Better
World Fund was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think
tank).
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), and the Center for
American Progress.
George Soros
is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations,
a board member for the International Crisis Group,
the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open
Society, and was a supporter for the Center for
American Progress.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Center for American Progress, the Aspen
Institute (think tank), and the International Rescue
Committee.
Igor S.
Ivanov is a board member for the International Crisis Group,
and a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative
(think tank).
Gareth
Evans is a board member for the International Crisis Group,
and was a co-chair for the International Commission
on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
Ernesto
Zedillo was a board member for the International Crisis Group,
and the commissioner for the International Commission
on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.
Shirley
Williams was the commissioner for the International Commission
on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament, is a director at the Nuclear Threat Initiative (think tank), and a member of the House of Lords.
Christopher
Patten is a co-chair for the International Crisis Group,
and was a member of the House of Lords.
House
of Lords and the House of Commons
are houses for the British Parliament.
David Miliband
was a member of the House of Commons,
the president-elect for the International Rescue
Committee, and is a distinguished senior fellow for the Center for American Progress.
Melody C.
Barnes was the EVP for the Center for American
Progress, the domestic policy council, director for the Barack Obama administration, and is Barack Obama’s
golf partner.
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