Ravi Nair with Abir Dasgupta, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

In a three-part series, the Probe’s Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta, and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta revealed the glaring discrepancies in selecting the winning bidder for the disinvestment of the government-owned helicopter service provider Pawan Hans Limited. The Probe has learnt that the government has decided to introduce stringent clauses to the due diligence process on qualified bidders in disinvestment deals of public assets.

In an interview with The Probe, Amardeep Sharma, the owner of the Cayman Islands-registered Almas Global Opportunity Fund (AGOF), claimed that the entity was eligible to bid for the government-owned helicopter service provider Pawan Hans Limited. He also asserted that the fund had no connection to Kudakwashe Reginald Tagwirei – a controversial businessman from Zimbabwe who has been sanctioned by the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom. In our latest story on the privatisation of the government’s helicopter service provider, several questions about AGOF and how the Indian government is attempting to privatise Pawan Hans are raised.

Did the government of India know about the link of a “notorious”, “corrupt” Zimbabwean businessman to India’s Pawan Hans disinvestment deal? Ravi Nair, Abir Dasgupta and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta reveal the complex web of companies that links controversial Zimbabwean businessman Kudakwashe Regimond Tagwirei to Almas Global Opportunity Fund, which is now at the heart of India's Pawan Hans sale.