April 28, 2016
Gautam Khaitan, Delhi-based lawyer and the first person to be arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on September 23, 2014, for allegedly laundering bribe money in the AgustaWestland deal, also finds mention in the Panama Papers. Khaitan, who was on the board of Aeromatrix, provided a reference letter in favour of Navin Mehra, son of Mehrasons Jewellers owner Ashwani Kumar Mehra. Navin Mehra was a director in two offshore entities registered by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, an investigation by The Indian Express has found.
In a March 2, 2013, letter to Waterman Trust Company Limited, registered in Isle of Man, Khaitan, lawyer, in O P Khaitan & Co. Solicitors & Advocates, said, “We hereby confirm that Mr Navin Mehra is personally known to us and has been our client for more than the last 10 years.” This letter was stamped as received by Mossack Fonseca. As was Khaitan’s certified copy of Navin Mehra’s passport.