ED to quiz Deepak Talwar on his role in the Airbus deal

New Delhi: An amount of Rs 234 crore received in two bank accounts of Deepak Talwar is among multiple hidden money trails the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wants to establish during questioning of the corporate lobbyist who is in Tihar Jail over his alleged involvement in liaising for the purchase of 43 aircraft for Indian Airlines from French company Airbus in 2005.

The agency has inputs that Talwar had received Rs 92 crore from Airbus in one account and Rs 142 crore in another. An ED investigator, on condition of anonymity, told IANS that the agency will begin quizzing Talwar from Monday and that a special focus would be on the money he received in the accounts of his various entities from Airbus to obtain benefits for the industry and some other foreign companies.

The agency is also seeking links how the money received in Talwar's accounts were transferred to the accounts of other government employees, including those in Civil Aviation Ministry, who abused their position in 2004 and decided to purchase 111 aircraft for the national airlines costing about Rs 70,000 crore when Praful Patel was the Minister of Aviation in the UPA government.

"We are ready with over 100 specific questions that will help in unravelling the money trail in the deal," said the ED official, adding "the procedure started soon after a Delhi court on Friday allowed us to question Talwar but in the jail premises." Talwar is currently in judicial custody and the court has allowed the ED to interrogate him on jail premises from Monday to Friday between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.