Jakarta: An Indian-origin businessman allegedly posed as an operative of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US to build close ties with Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto and other senior officials in an attempt to secure a multibillion-dollar defence deal.
According to a report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), the businessman has been identified as Gaurav Srivastava.
The report is doing the rounds at a time when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is on a three-day visit to Indonesia.
Srivastava allegedly developed ties with Subianto, Indonesia’s former defence minister and now the country’s president, and reportedly nicknamed himself “Mr G”. He allegedly accompanied Subianto to high-level meetings in Washington, DC, and Jakarta in 2020, where military purchases, including fighter jets and other defence equipment, were discussed, NDTV reported.
The OCCRP report is based on civil lawsuits filed by Srivastava’s former business partner, Niels Troost, in courts in California and New York. Troost allegedly gave Srivastava a 50 per cent ownership stake in his company.
Srivastava also built relationship
s with powerful Indonesian business leaders, including Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Subianto’s brother and chairman of the Arsari Group, Troost alleged.
Srivastava claimed in recorded phone calls that he worked for the CIA, according to the lawsuits. The lawsuits allege that he used this claim to gain the trust of senior Indonesian officials and get access to top government meetings.
The businessman allegedly told people that he had helped identify those responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings, the terrorist attack in Indonesia that killed more than 200 people. He also allegedly claimed that he played a key role in getting Subianto removed from the US immigration blacklist.
In 2020, he managed to get three Letters of Intent (LOIs) from Indonesia for the possible purchase of fighter jets and other military equipment. The report says he secured another Letter of Intent and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2021 and 2022 for two more defence projects.
Four companies linked to Srivastava signed five preliminary defence agreements with Indonesia’s defence ministry and a state-owned defence company between 2020 and 2022.
The proposed deals included the sale of 36 F-15 fighter jets, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, C-130 transport aircraft, and the setting up of a military command and control centre for Indonesia.
The US, in 2022, approved the possible sale of 36 F-15 fighter jets and related equipment to Indonesia in a deal worth up to $13.9 billion.
The four companies linked to Srivastava were shell companies and had never previously worked in defence procurement, the report states.
When the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the proposed sale of F-15 fighter jets to Indonesia, none of Srivastava’s companies were named as part of that official deal, the report added.