Tatra Truck scam

Tatra Truck scam is a scam that came to light in 2012 involving the sale of some 7,000 trucks to the Indian army over a period of more than two decades. ^[1] Tatra is a truck manufacturing company based in the Czech Republic. The allegation is that the Tatra trucks were sold at a very high cost to the Indian army through an unusual route. Following is the flow in which the Tatra deal happened.

• Tatra sold trucks first to a Hong Kong-based company called Venus Projects at a 35% discount. The company is the trading arm of Vectra Worldwide. If the deal had been made directly with India, the discount benefits would have been availed by the Indian army.
• Further, the trucks were purchased by Tatra Sipox (UK) Ltd from Venus Projects. Tatra Sipox is another subsidiary of Vectra Worldwide.
• Tatra Sipox sold the trucks to BEML, a company owned by the government of India, at an inflated price after adding the profit.
• These trucks were then purchased by the Indian Army from BEML for a further 25 to 35 percent more. ^{[2] [3]}

The Indian Army (original buyer) ended up purchasing the trucks for 100 to 120 percent more than the factory price. ^[4] Approximately INR 170 crores cash flow into an Indian company was being predicted in relation to this scam. ^{[5] [6] [7] [8]}

References

1. "Rs 14-crore bribe offer to army chief exposes scam worth crores in Tatra trucks". NDTV.com. Archived from the original on 2022-09-28. Retrieved 2025-11-19.
2. Reetu (2014-08-27). "Tatra scam: Rs 750 crore siphoned off, CBI finds no evidence". oneindia.com. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
3. "TATRA TRUCK SCAM". www.indianmirror.com. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
4. "FAQ: All you wanted to know about the army-Tatra scam". Rediff. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
5. "Tatra trucks scam: Antony admitted VK Singh told him about bribe". Firstpost. Retrieved 2019-08-29.
6. "Tatra deal: ED probing Rs 170 crore cash inflow". The Economic Times. 2013-03-16. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
7. "Rs 14-crore bribe offer to army chief exposes scam worth crores in Tatra trucks". NDTV.com. Retrieved 2019-08-26.
8. Pioneer, The. "Tatra truck scam: CBI gears up to finalise chargesheet". The Pioneer. Retrieved 2019-08-29.