“This is further to our earlier press statement of December 25, 2003, in connection with a report in the Financial Times of December 23, 2003, regarding a court order in Switzerland relating to money laundering operations by members of the Abacha regime in Nigeria. 

Tatas have secured a copy of the relevant part of the court’s order, and can confirm now that the order does NOT indicate that any Tata Group company was involved with any illegal transactions. The order also does NOT state, as incorrectly reported in the Financial Times, that any subsidiaries of Tata paid bribes.

It is now clear that unwarranted confusion does seem to have been created by the acronym T.A.T.A.O.S.S Ltd. S.A. for Trucks And Tractors for Africa Overseas Sales and Services Ltd. S.A., and its similarity to the name ‘Tata’. We reiterate here that M/s. Trucks and Tractors for Africa Overseas Sales and Services Ltd. S.A. is NOT a Tata Group company and no Tata Group company has any shareholding or beneficial ownership in this company. Further, at no point in time has this company represented the Tata Group or any of its companies. 

In response to our earlier rebuttal, The Financial Times, London has already carried a correction on December 31, 2003, stating that the entities involved with the transactions were “not part of Tata”.