Tatra Truck scam is a scam that came to light in 2012. 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.[1][2]
The Indian Army (original buyer) ended up purchasing the trucks for 100 to 120 percent more than the factory price.[3] Approximately INR 170 crores cash flow into an Indian company was being predicted in relation to this scam.[4][5][6][7]