THE HAGUE: Dutch investigators have arrested three former employees of a local company suspected of laundering some $1.2 billion for an energy client in India, prosecutors said Friday.
The Dutch company bought materials and services around the world for the Indian firm which has been involved in laying a gas pipeline on the subcontinent since 2006. “It is suspected that the Dutch company used to increase the amounts on the invoices for the materials and services supplied,” said the public prosecutor’s office, which did not name either company.
The company also acted as a so-called “invoice duplicator” meaning the Indian company was able to claim costs twice from gas customers, the statement added. “The ‘profits’ earned in this way were subsequently creamed off via the Dutch company,” it said.
The gains were then transferred via a complex web of businesses based among others in Dubai, Switzerland and the Caribbean, before eventually ending up at a business owned by the Indian company in Singapore. The suspects allegedly received payments of up to $10 million (8.9 million euros) for their involvement.