Indian investigators have woken up to the Yara-Kribhco pay off when the Norway’s investigation has already completed its inquiry and has penalized the guilty.
CBI has started an inquiry into an alleged pay-off of USD one million made to a former bureaucrat and his son by Norwegian fertiliser major ‘Yara’ for securing a joint venture with Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (Kribhco) in 2007.
CBI sources said the agency has started preliminary inquiry, based on statements from Yara and Norwegian prosecution agency Okokrim in this regard, naming the then officer and his son as suspects in the case.
The agency would soon be calling the former bureaucrat and his son for examination in connection with transfer of over USD one million in the offshore accounts believed to be of them.
For a change, the Yara-Kribhco bribery scandal is pointing towards the involvement of a high ranking IAS officer and 
Expressing a sigh of relief Chandra Pal Singh, the then Chairman of KRIBHCO earlier said to Indian Cooperative” there was nothing in the project and for us it never took off the ground. If some government official struck a deal overseas we cannot help”.
The names thrown up by Norwagian investigators in accepting a bribe of one million USD is that of Jivtesh Singh Maini and his son Gurpreetesh Singh Maini. The incident dates back to 2007 when Jivtesh Singh Maini was Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor, Department of Fertilizers in GOI.
He was on board of KRIBHCO. He served on the board of several prestigious bodies such as Hindustan Antibiotics Limited [HAL], Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers, Mumbai and M/s Hindustan Insecticides Ltd.
Mr Maini had also been Chairman of NHAI and Private Secretary of a Punjab Chief Minister in the past.
Norwegian criminal investigators have said fertilizer giant Yara illegally paid $1million to a top Indian bureaucrat’s son in return for his helping it secure a joint venture with public sector firm Krishak Bharati Cooperative Limited (Kribhco) documents made available by Norwegian prosecutors to The Hindu show.
Yara routed $1 million into an offshore account held on behalf of Gurpreetesh Singh Maini and his father, Finance Ministry Additional Secretary and Kribhco board member Jivtesh Singh Maini, according to the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime, Økokrim. “Both the offer and the payment constituted an improper advantage,” Økokrim’s Penalty Note to Yara states.
“In April 2007,” the Penalty Note issued by Økokrim states, “members of Yara’s senior management team, on behalf of Yara, offered to make a deal with Gurpreetesh Singh Maini, the son of Dr. Jivtesh Singh Maini. Dr. Maini was at that time Additional Secretary and Financial Advisor in the Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers and a member of the board of Kribhco.”
“The offer of a deal with Gurpreetesh Singh Maini was made in the context of Dr. Jivtesh Singh Maini’s position,” the note adds.
Gurpreetesh Singh Maini was to receive $3 million for securing a joint venture with Kribhco, to be paid in instalments of “$1 million per year during the period 1 January 2007-31 December 2009.”
Yara, the document records, “transferred the amount to an account in Hong Kong belonging to the company Krystal Holdings & Investments Limited (British Virgin Islands), a company whose beneficial owners were the spouses of Jivtesh Singh Maini and Gurpreetesh Singh Maini.” Mr. Jivtesh Singh Maini did not respond to multiple calls and text messages to his cell-phone number.
The payoffs to the Mainis, according to Økokrim, were part of multiple illegal transactions benefiting ousted Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi’s Minister for Petroleum, Shukri Ghanem, and Russian corporate chief Vasily Loginov.