&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Indian-origin man poses as 'CIA agent' to secure Indonesia defence deal: Who is Gaurav Srivastava")
An Indian-origin businessman is in a middle of a controversy surrounding defence deals in Indonesia. The man has been identified as Gaurav Srivastava according to a report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). He developed close ties with senior Indonesian officials, including President Prabowo Subianto when he was Defence Minister by allegedly presenting himself as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative. He accompanied him to high-level meetings in Washington, DC, and Jakarta in 2020, where military purchases, including fighter jets and other defence equipment, were discussed. He was able to obtain as many as five non-binding preliminary defence procurement agreements for his company that investigators later identified as shell companies. Srivastava has rejected all the allegations.
Who is Gaurav Srivastava and how he operated?
The OCCRP investigation is based on civil lawsuits filed by his former business partner, Niels Troost, in courts in California and New York. Troost, a Dutch oil executive, first met Srivastava when his company was facing sanctions for trading Russian oil. Troost alleges that Srivastava introduced himself as a CIA agent operating under “non-official cover” alongside business tycoons Elon Musk and Warren Buffett and former NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark. Srivastava reportedly reportedly nicknamed himself "Mr G" and soon grew close to Indonesian leaders. In November 2022, he introduced Prabowo as a “dearest friend” at the Global Food Security Forum in Bali. In the same year, he accompanied Prabowo to Garuda Yaksa Prabowo’s residence in Hambalang, West Java, where gifted him a massive wooden eagle statue, which he claimed was a tribute to the US and the CIA.
Troost also claimed that Srivastava allegedly said that he helped identify those responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings and played a role in getting Prabowo removed from a long-standing US immigration blacklist. The Indonesian leader was on the list for alleged human rights abuses during his military career. Between 2020 and 2022, companies controlled by Srivastava secured five preliminary agreements from Indonesia's Defence Ministry and a state-owned defence company, according to the OCCRP-Tempo investigation. The proposed deals included 36 F-15 fighter jets, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, C-130 transport aircraft and a joint operations command and control centre for Indonesia's Defence Ministry. The deals were non-binding and Indonesia did not go ahead with it. The investigation revealed that at least five companies controlled by Srivastava that received the agreements were shell companies.
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The probe also claimed that Srivastava developed business ties to Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Prabowo's younger brother and chairman of the Arsari Group. Troost described Srivastava as "a brazen con man of remarkable skill” in his court filings. Troost also alleged that Srivastava arranged a $51 million loan from their company to the Arsari Group. Srivastava reportedly said the money would fund a covert US government programme. However, he persuaded the Arsari group to transfer half the sum to him and used it to buy a $25 million mansion in Los Angeles.
