Bollywood thriller of Sumant Kapur

An extraordinary story is unfolding in the so-called Bermuda Triangle between Moscow, Kyiv, and New Delhi: engines for Russian Mi-17 helicopters are being shipped to India with Ukrainian paperwork. How is this possible?

This is according to an investigation by the publication «Inview».

Facilitating the transfer of such “packages” is the scandal-plagued British businessman of Indian origin, Sumant Kapur. No, he is not related to Bollywood stars like Raj Kapur or Rishi Kapur, but he has turned his own life into a true Bollywood thriller. He is known as a prominent “fixer” who, if asked insistently enough, could probably pull a star from the sky.

And today, a Mi-17 engine is indeed a kind of star from the sky: these engines are in severe shortage, since starting in 2000 India has purchased hundreds of Mi-17 helicopters from Russia, but spare parts were not exactly top of mind at the time. Naturally, looming large over these murky shipments are the “big ears” of the state corporation Rostec, headed by General Sergey Chemezov, as well as the slightly smaller ears of Russian Helicopters JSC (part of Rostec via the United Engine Corporation).

It’s worth recalling that Russian Helicopters has been under the watchful “eye” of scandal-ridden businessman and former governor of the Amur Region, Nikolay Kolesov, for the fifth year in a row. Kolesov is infamous for his kilometers of lavish real estate in Russia and palatial villas abroad. That is why Mr. Kolesov can easily keep his hand on the pulse of what’s happening with the Mi-17 engines. After all, trade through official contracts brings billions into the state treasury — but trade using falsified documents turns into a golden “stream” flowing straight into one’s own bottomless pocket.

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Kabuki theater of billionaire Kapur

A British citizen of Indian origin from an elite family, Suman Kapur heads the C&C Alpha Group holding. This holding specializes in investments in aviation, healthcare, energy, and real estate.

However, recently Mr. Kapur has been banned from entering Russia, and the accounts of one of his companies — Cardinal General Trading FZE — have been frozen.

2gis.ae

But it turns out this resourceful businessman was not at all upset, as he managed to stage a true Kabuki theater in the trade of helicopter engines. And it is not immediately clear where the mask ends or the elaborate makeup begins, who is dancing, and who is playing the three-string lute…

In India’s defense circles, the name Kapur is well known. Sumant Kapur’s father, B.K. Kapur, is a former top manager of HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Limited), the state-owned company that services the Mi-17 squadron in India.

He is also a close relative of the scandal-tainted billionaire Sudhir Chaudhri, a figure in the Panama Papers, who, together with his son Bhanu Chaudhri, was involved in arms trading – namely Barak missiles.

In 2002, Bhanu Chaudhri founded the private investment company C&C Alpha Group in the United Kingdom.

Sudhir Chaudhri

The father and his son Chaudhri were linked to offshore companies in Panama, the British Virgin Islands, and the Seychelles.

In 2011, after the Central Bureau of Investigation gave Sudhir Chaudhri a clean pass in a deal between the Israeli firm Soltam and the Ministry of Defence, the Enforcement Directorate began investigating financial transactions related to that deal. However, it found no evidence of violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The case concerning the Barak missile deal was closed in 2013.

New Delhi

But already in 2014, Sudhir and Bhanu Chaudhri were arrested as part of a UK Serious Fraud Office investigation on suspicion of helping Rolls-Royce with bribes to secure contracts in China and Indonesia.

However, this murky case was also later closed.

And now for an interesting detail: Sudhir Chaudhri moved his base from Delhi to London after his name began appearing in a CBI investigation into a contract for upgrading 130 mm field guns and the Barak missile deal. At that time, the British branch of Mossack Fonseca informed its unit in the British Virgin Islands that Bhanu Chaudhri had resigned as director of Anterna on 27 January 2016, after all 50,000 shares were transferred in November 2015 from the Seychelles by Protype Services Inc. to the name of Sumant Kapur, the son of Sudhir Chaudhri’s uncle, B.K. Kapur.

translated.turbopages.org

An important detail: Sumant Kapur, Executive Director of C&C Alpha Group, was appointed director of Anterna Limited as early as October 2006.

n May 2010, Kapur was replaced by Aman Chopra, but in 2011 documents Sumant Kapur was listed as the holder of the company’s bearer shares.

Today, Bhanu Chaudhri’s portrait can be seen on the C&C Alpha Group website with the caption “Founder/Director.”

Bhanu Chaudhri

So, has Sumant Kapur been in this shadow business for many years? And does he easily make use of his strong connections in both Moscow and Kyiv?
Meanwhile, the financial “streams” flow through offshore zones, with many companies being mere shells. Some of these entities are closely tied to the aforementioned “heroes” of the Panama Papers.

Does Motor Sich speak Chinese?

For decades, Sumant Kapur has held senior positions in companies in the United Kingdom, all sharing the same address in an elite London district — 23 Buckingham Gate, London, England, SW1E 6LB.

About a year and a half ago, a scheme organized by Mr. Kapur came to light: through a network of companies, he supplies India with Mi-17 engines supposedly of Ukrainian manufacture. In reality, these are Russian units that have allegedly undergone “restoration” at Ukrainian factories.

At the center of all these events is Sumant Kapur’s company — C&C Alpha Group Limited. All key assets pass through C&C Alpha Group, which owns or controls stakes in companies in India, the UK, and the UAE. And Mi-17 engines are purchased in Russia through offshore companies and front intermediaries in Russia.

Mi-17

These engines or their equivalents are sent to Ukrainian factories, where they are allegedly re-motorized. Then these units return to India — bypassing sanctions — as products of Ukraine.

The case involves the well-known enterprise Motor Sich in Zaporizhzhya (a controlling stake is owned by Chinese citizens).

About 80% of Motor Sich’s output was purchased by Russia before 2014, but in March 2014 Kyiv banned deliveries. With the loss of its largest market, the plant found itself in a critical situation.

Motor Sich plant

The Chinese took advantage of the situation by signing a contract with Motor Sich for aircraft engines at favorable prices.

The engines are imported through offshore companies registered to front individuals. These individuals receive their profits in Dubai and in Limassol (Cyprus).

Part of the money is transferred to trusts belonging to Sumant Kapur and his relatives.

The thieves’ caravan from Kabul

But how could the Ukrainian side have large quantities of Mi-17 engines? It turns out — as reported by media, including Avia.pro — that in 2021, businessmen connected to Ukraine’s defense industry may have taken engines and spare parts for Mi-17 and Mi-35 helicopters out of Afghanistan, taking advantage of the chaos during the evacuation.
At that time, a Ukrainian Il-76 departed from Kabul. According to sources, on board there could have been components for these helicopters that belonged to the Afghan army. All of this was allegedly intended for subsequent resale or use in the interests of unscrupulous businessmen connected to Ukrainian defense structures.

Mi-17

One is left to wonder: how many engines were taken out?

And it should be noted that engines for Mi-8/17 helicopters, including the Mi-17, are currently produced at the JSC UEC-Klimov plant in St. Petersburg.

The Mi-8/17 helicopters themselves are manufactured at two plants — in Kazan and Ulan-Ude.

These plants are part of the Russian Helicopters holding.

UEC-Klimov

This enterprise is both the developer and manufacturer of engines, in particular the VK-2500PS-03 engine, which is installed on the Mi-171. This engine was developed to replace the Ukrainian TV3-117, which was used on earlier versions of the Mi-8/17.

Rusprofile.ru

The Kazan Helicopter Plant produces helicopters of the Mi-8/17 family.
The Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant also produces Mi-8/17 helicopters.

Kazan Helicopter Plant

One can only speculate how exactly the engines “escape” from these enterprises.
Then, in the autumn of 2020, India was shaken by a major scandal. Public outrage erupted over plans to sign a contract with the Ukrainian company Motor Sich for the overhaul of engines from Russian Mi-17V5 helicopters, since Motor Sich does not have a license from the Russian manufacturer to service VK-2500PS-0 engines. After all, the Ukrainian company is owned by China!

The Asian Age published a report stating that the Indian Air Force, as part of a tender for the overhaul of engines from Russian-made Mi-17V5 helicopters, intended to award the contract to Motor Sich because the company had offered the lowest price.
But such a contract directly contradicts India’s policy toward the PRC. The country’s leadership had imposed a number of restrictions on Chinese apps and introduced various limits on cooperation with Chinese companies and investments from China.

In the Motor Sich repair shops

The Ukrainian company has for several years been 80% owned by China, which acquired Motor Sich shares through front companies.

The Russian Helicopters holding informed the Indian leadership that it had revoked the Ukrainian company’s license to perform maintenance on its products, as well as to manufacture components and spare parts for its products, back in 2018.

Russian Helicopters also told the Indian Air Force that all of the holding’s products are serviced directly at the facilities of the Russian helicopter manufacturer and its component producers.
“Motor Sich has long been in the zone of China’s special interests, which makes the enterprise an unreliable contractor for India’s defense orders,” concluded journalists from The Asian Age.

Nevertheless, Sumant Kapur set up a network for trading helicopter engines, despite sanctions, the situation at the Motor Sich plant, and statements from JSC Russian Helicopters.

It should be recalled that Nikolay Kolesov took over as head of JSC Russian Helicopters at the end of 2021.

Nikolay Kolesov

So, did some changes come to Russian Helicopters along with Kolesov?

Incidentally, Kolesov himself is from Kazan, home to the Kazan Helicopter Plant.
The Mi-17, indeed, is widely used in India. India’s large purchases of the Mi-17 are explained by the fact that these helicopters proved themselves excellently during the Indo-Pakistani conflict in Kashmir. In high-altitude conditions, the Mi-17 turned out to be the only means of quickly delivering reinforcements, ammunition, and supplies.

Russian Helicopters once delivered a batch of Mi-17V-5 military transport helicopters to India under the largest-ever contract for 151 aircraft. In 2008, Rosoboronexport signed a contract to supply India with 80 Mi-17V-5 helicopters and related equipment. In 2013, three additional agreements were signed for the delivery of Mi-17V-5s for the needs of the Indian Air Force, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the President’s Secretariat. Another 71 aircraft were sent to India.

After 2022, the supply of spare parts from Russia became a problem. It was at that point that the shadowy figure of Sumant Kapur emerged.

Sumant Kapur

The fact remains: engines originally manufactured in Russia end up in India with Ukrainian certificates via Mr. Kapur.
And, according to media reports, he uses a certain rice trader and his Russian wife as intermediaries to channel hefty bribes to people in the Rostec State Corporation — in other words, JSC Russian Helicopters.

Sergey Chemezov’s man

And now a few “kind” remarks about the activities of the well-known corrupt official and plunderer of state property, Nikolay Kolesov, as well as his foreign assets.

At the end of 2021, Nikolay Kolesov was appointed CEO of Russian Helicopters. He jumped to this company from KRET (JSC Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies), where he had made his mark producing faulty “Aventa” ventilators. Due to fires in hospital wards in Moscow and St. Petersburg, 7 people died. It is said that Kolesov procured substandard components from China.
Now, India has entered the picture.

Even earlier, Mr. Kolesov was governor of the Amur Region, from which he was expelled for “loss of trust.”

And it has long been known that he is a man of Sergey Chemezov.

Sergey Chemezov

This is confirmed not only by Kolesov’s subsequent appointments across all Rostec structures, but also by a certain audio recording: in it, Kolesov admits (apparently under the influence) that he passes on up to 60% of all bribes he receives to General Chemezov.

It should also be recalled that Mr. Kolesov privatized about 20 defense plants, which he gained access to with General Chemezov’s help. He masterfully re-registered them under front individuals and moved the “golden calf” abroad.

Mr. Kolesov is shamelessly wealthy: a €5 million villa is registered to his seven-year-old daughter, Nicole Kolesova. At the time of this deal, the silver-spooned child was only four years old. Three villas of 750 m² each were purchased in the name of his four-year-old son, Alexey.
Mr. Kolesov also owns a palace in Yalta, a plot on Rublyovka worth 1 billion rubles, and a private resort near Kazan (his hometown) with a bowling alley and shooting ranges.

And how does Mr. Kolesov travel? By a $20 million Bombardier Global Express business jet and a $10 million Embraer Legacy 650 jet.

Furthermore, shell companies registered to Kolesov’s people acquired shares of major defense enterprises within the Concern Radio-Electronic Technologies (KRET), which Kolesov headed for a full 12 years. These shares were sold to these firms as “non-core assets” — at undervalued prices, without competition. As a result, state-owned defense enterprises passed into private hands through companies controlled by Mr. Kolesov.

This is how shares in the Elecon plant, Elektrodeta l plant, Kazan Electrical Engineering Plant, and others were alienated.

С–С–С–The shell firms received billions in dividends from the state budget and defense orders, and the money was transferred to Kolesov’s associates. Some properties were officially registered as divisions of Kolesov’s defense companies, only to later change ownership and pass directly into the hands of his relatives. One villa in Mallorca was recorded as a division of the Elecon plant.

It feels as if the British citizen of Indian origin Kapur and the Russian billionaire (at the state’s expense) Kolesov are identical twins, so much do they have in common in their multi-layered dealings.

Perhaps this could be appreciated not only by Bollywood, but also by Hollywood.