NEW DELHI: Abhishek Verma is accused by many of fixing multi-million dollar deals, and some purported emails show him transacting millions of dollars across continents. These emails also show his numerous global contacts, friends and acquaintances.
However, the colourful middleman, accused of taking out official secret documents from the ministry of defence (MoD) and accepting half a million dollars from a Swiss company for clearing its name from MoD's blacklist, doesn't seem to have enough money to furnish a few lakh rupees to obtain bail for himself and his Romanian wife, Anca Maria Neacsu.
Lawyers are refusing to appear for him, alleging that he has failed to pay them their legal fees. Worse, none, except his ailing mother, seems to be ready to stand surety for him.
"I appeared for him for almost a decade — from 1999 to 2008 — but he hasn't yet cleared my dues. He has a habit of getting you to do the legal work and then refuses to pay up. I have appeared in cases where he is accused of misusing official phones, and dues to government of around Rs 200 crore. He would hire cars and keep them without paying the bills. Now, I can appreciate if his lawyers are refusing to appear in courts for him," says advocate Virender Singh Rawat.
Advocate Gautam Khaitan, one of the suspects named in the VVIP helicopter scandal by the CBI and who has had legal dealings with Verma, told the Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently that about Rs 5.5 lakh worth of cheques issued by Verma for his legal fees have bounced. Khaitan revealed this in response to ED's query if he was holding several thousands of dollars belonging to Verma in an escrow account as claimed by the middleman. Khaitan has accused Verma of forging his letterhead to fabricate the lie.
A CBI officer, who was involved in investigating Verma, calls him a "typical conman". The officer said the only thing they were able to confirm was the payment of $500,000 by Rheinmetall to Verma for clearing its name from MoD's blacklist. "He creates the impression that he is dealing in huge contracts, and moving hundreds of millions of dollars around the world. That is his way of marketing himself. But the fact is those are mostly forgeries created by Verma himself," he said.
For the past few months Verma and Neacsu have been filing a string of applications in a Delhi court. These range from pleas to reduce bail and surety bond amounts to waiver from arranging sureties, as well as for release of his 16 confiscated wrist watches.
In one of the cases lodged under the Information Technology Act, Verma was granted bail by a CBI court last October where it set the personal bond amount as Rs 5 lakh with a direction he produce two separate sureties of the like amount. Earlier, His wife was granted bail on a bond of Rs 10 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.
Both pleaded helplessness in arranging the money and preferred to remain in jail, with the court having no option but to remand them to Tihar.
Later, Verma and his wife moved an application in the special CBI court saying "applicant is not able to arrange two sureties for such a heavy amount" and unable to furnish personal/surety bond. The court took a sympathetic view and halved the amount to Rs 2.5 lakh for Verma and Rs 4 lakh for Neacsu.
In January, Verma again approached court, seeking exemption from even arranging the two securities. Saying it was "impossible" for him to arrange two sureties, Verma informed the court that his mother — the only one willing to stand surety for him — is ailing and immobile.
Given his penchant for such outlandish tales, Verma's name has cropped up in most defence scandals in India in recent years. The CBI and other investigation agencies have failed to find any evidence of his involvement in scandals such as the Scorpene submarine deal, VVIP helicopter deal etc. Even in arms bazaar gossips, Verma doesn't seem to be a player of any significance.
Broke Abhishek Verma, wife can’t pay for bail
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Broke Abhishek Verma, wife can’t pay for bail
