Srivastava developed ties with Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia’s former defence minister and now the country’s president, and reportedly nicknamed himself “Mr G”.
An Indian-origin businessman allegedly posed as a CIA agent to forge close ties with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and other senior officials in an attempt to secure a multibillion-dollar defence deal.
The businessman, identified as Gaurav Srivastava, allegedly presented himself as a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative, according to a report by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP).
The report says Srivastava developed ties with Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia’s former defence minister and now the country’s president, and reportedly nicknamed himself “Mr G”. He allegedly accompanied Prabowo to high-level meetings in Washington, DC, and Jakarta in 2020, where military purchases, including fighter jets and other defence equipment, were discussed.
The report is based on civil lawsuits filed by his former business partner, Niels Troost, in courts in California and New York. Troost allegedly gave Srivastava a 50 per cent ownership stake in his company.
According to Troost, Srivastava also built relationships with powerful Indonesian business leaders, including Hashim Djojohadikusumo, Subianto’s brother and chairman of the Arsari Group.
In the lawsuit, Srivastava claimed in recorded phone calls that he worked for the CIA. The lawsuits allege that he used this claim to gain the trust of senior Indonesian officials and get access to top government meetings.
He allegedly told people that he had helped identify those responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings, the terrorist attack in Indonesia that killed more than 200 people. He also allegedly claimed that he played a key role in getting Subianto removed from the US immigration blacklist.
In 2020, Srivastava managed to get three Letters of Intent (LOIs) from Indonesia for the possible purchase of fighter jets and other military equipment. The report says he secured another Letter of Intent and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2021 and 2022 for two more defence projects.
Between 2020 and 2022, four companies linked to Srivastava signed five preliminary defence agreements with Indonesia’s Defence Ministry and a state-owned defence company.
The proposed deals included the sale of 36 F-15 fighter jets, UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, C-130 transport aircraft, and the setting up of a military command and control centre for Indonesia.
In 2022, the United States approved the possible sale of 36 F-15 fighter jets and related equipment to Indonesia in a deal worth up to $13.9 billion.
