According to the case made out by the FBI, Cirrus Electronics was a private entity acting on directions from Indian government entities VSSC, Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) and ADE, to obtain dual-use items from US vendors and illegally export them to India via Singapore. So, Cirrus had registered offices at Simpsonville, South Carolina, in Singapore and in Bangalore.

The modus operandi, the FBI alleges, was to purchase items on behalf of Cirrus (US) from American vendors by concealing the original destination, then illegally exporting them to Cirrus Singapore without obtaining the necessary license and then re-exporting them to India.

VSSC is on the “entities list” of the US Department of Commerce. This is a kind of a restricted list and if a exporter has to sell such items to these listed entities, then it must obtain a license from the Department of Commerce.

The FBI charge is that the accused “knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed with each other” to violate these provisions by “exporting critical electronic components to Entity List organisations in India without first obtaining licenses from the Department of Commerce”.

Two other Cirrus officials, AKN Prasad, who opened the Bangalore office, and Sampath Sundar, Director of Operations in the Singapore office, have been named as the other accused.

In the indictment on the alleged illegal exports for parts to be used in the Tejas aircraft project, the FBI has referred to two “co-conspirators” without revealing their identity. One was a “Government of India official located in the District of Columbia (DC)” and the other was an “official at ADE”.

... contd.