Abhishek Verma (arms dealer)

Abhishek Verma
Born	(1968-02-23) February 23, 1968 New Delhi, India
Residence	New Delhi, London, Bucharest
Nationality	Indian
Education	Masters in Political Science, Georgetown University
Occupation	businessman & philanthropist
Organization	Shrikant Verma Trust
Known for	Arms Dealer and global weapons contractor
Home town	New Delhi - India, London - UK
Spouse(s)	Asmita Verma (married 1992-1996), Anca Verma (married 2006-present)
Parents	Shrikant Verma (father) Veena Verma (mother)

Abhishek Verma (born 23 February 1968 in New Delhi, India) is an arms dealer and was the main suspect in the Scorpene submarines deal, AgustaWestland VVIP helicopters bribery scandal and Navy War Room Leak Case.

Personal life

Verma's father, Shrikant Verma, was a leading journalist before Indira Gandhi brought him into the Congress Party and made him a member of the 1976 Indian Parliament.^[1] From an early age, he^[2] was exposed to the media in his public life due to the assistance he provided his father. His mother, Veena Verma, served for fourteen years as a Member of Parliament, and served the Congress Party as Vice-President, responsible for the Mahila Congress.^[3]

In 2001, he was engaged to marry former Miss Greece and Miss Universe runner's up Evelina Papantoniou.^[4][5] He was also dating Playboy center-fold Simone Cronstrand^[6][7] prior to marrying 'Miss Romania', Anca Neacsu.^[8][9]

Career

He was Chairman of Atlas Interactive India Private Limited and signed an agreement with the Indian Government to run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited to provide the technology for 'netTV' (television through an internet connection) by 2004.^[10]

Politics

Verma is the main witness in 1984 Sikh Riots genocide case against Congress Leader Jagdish Tytler. The courts in December 2015 directed the CBI to record his testimony as witness in this case against Tytler.^[11][12] In the international defence and armament companies circles Verma is known as the Lord of War'.^[13][14]

He was nominated to contest Lok Sabha parliamentary elections from Congress Party in 1996, which he turned down due to personal reasons.^[15]

Abhishek Verma with his wife Anca Verma

Allegations of corruption and imprisonment

In 2006, Verma was accused by the opposition political party BJP of receiving kickbacks amounting to around US$200 million, through a US$4.5 billion Indian Military deal, as a consequence of the Indian government purchasing six Scorpène-class submarines from Thales. The BJP raised this in Parliament, pointing out his proximity to the Congress party, and alleged he had gained the agency to negotiate the contract with Thales as a result of bribing certain Congress Party politicians.^[16][17][18]

Verma and Thales immediately denied all the allegations, and launched a lawsuit against The Outlook Magazine, which had been the first to break the story in February 2006. He also sued the former BJP Deputy Prime Minister of India, L. K. Advani, for criminal defamation; Advani had campaigned against Abhishek, demanding the Government charge the latter with corruption.^[19]

In 2009 the Delhi High Court exonerated Verma when the Central Bureau of Investigation published their report into the allegations: they stated that the monies received by him was not a result of the submarine sale.^[20] On 7 June 2012, CBI raided Verma's 10 premises and establishments in India after registration of cases of corruption and money laundering.^[21][22]

In 2013, Verma was named a suspect in the AgustaWestland 12 VVIP helicopters scandal to the Indian Government for massive bribes exceeding Euros 50 million were paid to the Indian politicians including Sonia Gandhi as alleged by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy. He is suspected to have played the role as the middleman in the chopper deal and the nexus was exposed by TimesNow TV with their global investigation.^[23][24][25]

Due to various other arms deal-related cases that Verma and his wife are alleged to have been involved in, the government attempted to freeze their secret bank accounts in Liechtenstein, which are said to hold over US$500 million; however the Liechtenstein authorities rejected the Indian government's request to open the accounts in 2015.^[26][27][28]

When Enforcement Directorate raids were carried out at Verma's residences, among the goods seized were 36 paintings, valued at over US$5 million^[29][30] and high end designer watches worth US$1 million.^[31]

In June 2012, Verma was arrested and charged with corruption and money laundering;^[32][33] the trial commenced in December 2015.^[34] In April 2017, a special court of CBI presided by Judge Anju Bajaj Chandana exonerated Verma and his wife Anca in the two cases of corruption and money laundering. ^{[35] [36]}

References