Man jailed for illegal export of technology to India

Washington: An Indian-American businessman was on Tuesday sentenced to 35 months in prison by a US court for illegally exporting electronic components to government entities in India, involved in ballistic missile production.

Parthasarathy Sudarshan, who owns an international electronics business, was convicted of supplying the materials to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL).

The 47-year-old had acquired electrical components with applications in missile guidance and firing systems in the US and supplied to the entities between 2002 and 2006, according to court documents.

Sudarshan and others at his company, the Cirrus with offices in Simpsonville, South Carolina, Singapore and in Bangalore, provided US companies with fraudulent certificates that claimed the end-users of the electrical components were non-restricted entities in India, when, in fact, the items were for VSSC, it said.

There were no export licenses for any of the shipments to VSSC and BDL, which are on the Department of Commerce's Entity List. Both the Indian entities are involved in development of ballistic missiles, space launch vehicles, and fighter jets.

Exports of US-origin commodities to these entities are restricted and require prior authorisation in the form of a license from the Department of Commerce.

To further conceal from the US government that goods were going to entities in India on the Department of Commerce Entity List, Sudarshan would route the products through its Singapore office and then send the packages on to India, the documents said.

It has been pointed out by the Justice Department that Sudarshan also acquired microprocessors for the Tejas, a fighter jet under development in India. The microprocessors were necessary for the navigation and weapons systems of the Tejas. Because the microprocessors are on the US Munitions List, the State Department must license any export of the products.

On two occasions in 2004 and 2006, Cirrus caused the shipment of a total of 500 microprocessors to the Aeronautical Development Establishment, an enterprise within the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India responsible for the development of the Tejas. There were no licenses for these shipments.