Tata denies paying way to Nigerian contracts
Tata, India's biggest business conglomerate, has denied paying bribes to then general Sani Abacha's regime in Nigeria and threatened to sue the Financial Times for defamation.
Quoting a Swiss court order in money laundering investigations, the newspaper reported that several international companies, including Tata and Germany's Ferrostaal made illegal payments as part of the late dictator's 'system of systematic corruption'.
According to the paper, Tata group paid US$40 million in bribes 'to get contracts to export vehicles to Nigeria for the army and other government agencies'.
Vehemently denying the graft charge, R. Gopalkrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons, said: 'Tata had not done anything wrong and the allegations were ridiculous.'
Mr Gopalkrishnan said a company called Tractors And Trucks of Africa (Tata), registered in Africa, had imported trucks from Telco, a Tata company, 10 years ago.
'We have nothing to do with this company except that we supplied trucks to them. Our records show that we had two transactions with this company during the Abacha regime.
'It is possible that confusion has been caused by the acronym Tata - abbreviation for the African company - which apparently figures in the Swiss court judgment,' he said.
Abacha, who died in 1998, is suspected of having looted the Nigerian treasury of about US$2.2 billion when he ruled Nigeria.
