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MiG fraud: FCID finds startling new details
View(s):A near three-year investigation by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) into the procurement of MiG-27 fighter jets for the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has bared some startling details. Firstly, what was touted as a “Government-to-Government” Agreement between Ukrinmarsh, a military goods export firm in Ukraine, and the Commander of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF), has turned out to be a fraudulent document.
The FCID has said that the Ukranian Prosecutor General has confirmed that there has been a financial misappropriation in the deal. Funds from the SLAF have gone to Bellimissa Holdings Limited. This company, as periodically revealed by the Sunday Times, only had an office address, with a chair and a table, in London. From there, the funds have been remitted to a secret account in the British Virgin Islands where the company had been incorporated.
In reality, the agreement with Ukrinmarsh has been with the Singapore based D.S. Alliance, which had supplied MiG-27 fighter jets to the SLAF earlier too. D.S. Alliance Managing Director Lee Than Soo (T.S. Lee) has been the main player in Bellimissa Holdings Ltd.
FCID investigations have revealed that Dmitry Alexandrovich Perugudov, then a Director of Ukrinmarsh, had signed on behalf of Ukrinmarsh. He had fled Ukraine thereafter. The Ukrainian authorities tracked him down at a Paris address and arrested him.
Highlights of the FCID findings appear in a box story in the political commentary.