Cirrus Electronics founder Parthasarathy Sudarshan, 47, was sentenced on Monday to 35 months in prison for illegally exporting electronic components to Indian state-run agencies.
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NEW YORK: Cirrus Electronics founder Parthasarathy Sudarshan, 47, was sentenced on Monday to 35 months in prison for illegally exporting electronic components to Indian state-run agencies involved in the development of ballistic missiles and fighter jets. “The businessman has been sentenced for supplying the Indian government with controlled technology,” said the US Justice Department on Tuesday after the sentencing by a court in Washington.
Court documents show Sudarshan shipped static random access memory computer chips that are designed to withstand extreme heat, capacitors and resistors to Singapore and then clandestinely re-exported them to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) which are part of the Indian defence ministry and the department of space.
“Both VSSC and BDL are on the department of commerce’s entity list and exports of US-origin commodities to these entities are restricted and require prior authorization in the form of a license from the department of commerce,” the Justice Department said.
It added that there were no export licenses for any of the shipments to VSSC and BDL, and yet, “Between 2002 and 2006, Sudarshan acquired electrical components with applications in missile guidance and firing systems in the United States for VSSC and BDL.”
The department said Cirrus officials sometimes forged certificates to show the vendors in the United States that the sales had US commerce department approval. Sudarshan and another Cirrus executive Mythili Gopal were both arrested on March 23, 2007 based on a 15-count federal grand jury indictment. The indictment also charged two other Cirrus employees AKN Prasad of Bangalore and Sampath Sundar of Singapore for their roles in acquiring 500 American i960 microprocessors for the Tejas fighter jet being developed by India’s Aeronautical Development Establishment.
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