New Delhi: The Indian defence ministry has distanced itself from Neco Defence Munitions—the company at the centre of an arms scandal that led to the resignation of Estonia’s Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur—saying it has not dealt with the firm.
Defence sources said NECO Defence is part of a Nagpur-based group in the steel manufacturing business, owned by Anand Jaiswal and Siddharth Jaiswal.
They added that NECO Defence had acquired a small Italian arms and ammunition making firm called Datasel, and they have a Romania-based manufacturing facility, with a contract for filling artillery shells to supply to Estonia for onward supply to Ukraine.
“There are no dealings or supply orders from our armed forces but they may have supplied to state police as claimed in their website. No connection or dealings with MoD,” a source underlined.
As reported, Pevkur had last week announced his resignation saying he was taking political responsibility for problems identified within Estonia’s defence establishment, including the country’s military procurement agency, the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments (ECDI).
The company at centre of the scandal is Datasel S.R.L., the Italian firm acquired by Neco Defence Munitions in March 2024.
According to Estonia’s public broadcaster ERR, neither Datasel nor its Indian owner had previously produced the artillery shells that Estonia sought to procure.
Datasel, however, disputes Estonia’s version of events.
In a statement to Euractiv, the company said last week that it was “the victim” of the dispute and rejected the grounds for termination. It said it had supplied and invoiced €58 million worth of material against €59 million in advance payments and that no quality problems had been established in inspections conducted under the contracts.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)