Indian American arrested for bribing US Navy officials

Washington (PTI) Anjan Dutta-Gupta, an eminent
Indian American from Georgia, with close connections in the
ruling Democratic establishment here, has been arrested by
federal authorities on charges of bribing Navy officials for
allegedly seeking software contracts worth millions.
The kickback scheme involved approximately USD 10
million of naval funds, US Attorney Peter Neronha said.
The scheme dates back more than 10 years and involved
bogus and inflated invoices and work that was paid for but
never performed, prosecutors said.
Dutta-Gupta, 58, founder and president of Advanced
Solutions for Tomorrow (ASFT), was arrested Sunday in Atlanta
by the US Customs agents and turned over to FBI as he entered
the country from a trip to Chile.
Born and brought up in the eastern Indian city of
Kolkata, Dutta-Gupta, who arrived in the US in the mid-80s
made an initial court appearance in Atlanta on Monday and was
released on USD 25,000 unsecured bond.
He was ordered to surrender his passport and asked to
appear before a Magistrate Judge in US District in Providence
on February 15, 2011.
Along with him, US authorities have also charged one
Ralph Mariano, 52, a civilian program manager and senior
systems engineer with NAVSEA, on accepting kickbacks from him.
NAVSEA is the largest of the Navy's five system
commands and accounts for nearly one quarter of the Navy's
entire budget.
A criminal complaints and supporting affidavits
unsealed in US District Court in Providence alleges the two
participated in a kickback and bribery scheme in which
Dutta-Gupta funneled approximately USD 10 million to Mariano,
his relatives, and associates in return for Mariano's role in
the funding of Naval contracts to ASFT.
With offices in Middletown, Rhode Island, and Roswell,
Georgia, ASFT is a technology services company that provides
systems engineering, product assurance, program support,
integrated logistics services and Autonomous Underwater
Vehicle development to the Navy.
The majority of ASFT's employees support Naval
Undersea Warfare Center contracts and are located at its Rhode
Island office in Middletown.
According to the affidavit, approximately USD 13.5
million in funding from the Navy was sent by ASFT to a
subcontractor, mostly for work that was not performed.
"Unfortunately, as the complaint alleges, a Navy
employee and a DoD contractor conspired to corrupt the DoD's
procurement system and personally profit from their scheme,"
said Special Agent-in-Charge Ed Bradley, DCIS, Northeast Field
Office.
In one of the uncaptioned and undated pictures on the
webpage of a website containing information on Dutta-Gupta,
www.kavitachhibber.com, he is seen receiving a plaque from
Indian Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
He is said to be the major funder of the 2002 Bengali
Convention, by donating a hefty sum as the largest annual
convention of the Bengalis in the United States was unable to
generate funds in the aftermath of the twin-tower attack in
September 2001.
He was also involved in a mentoring program at the
Jadavpur University in Kolkata in the eastern Indian state of
West Bengal.
According to CampaignforMoney.com, Dutta-Gupta is a
democrat and he made donations to Hillary Clinton for
President in 2007.
Several Democratic leaders including Congressman Jim
Langevin and the former Speaker of the US House of
Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, have visited his lab.
A voice mail left at the office of Dutta-Gupta was not
immediately returned.