International woman of mystery: Anca Neacsu aka Mrs. Abhishek Verma

On 21 May, while a small army of reporters waited on tenterhooks at Primus Hospital in Chanakyapuri for Sahil Peerzada the beat-up boyfriend of Zohal Hamid to be discharged, in walked a lady in an orange suit. Identified by those in touch with her as Anca Neacsu, she was immediately approached by a couple of reporters as she made her way across the hospital lobby. She was their best hope of getting exclusive access to Hamid and Peerzada. Not wasting any time with them, she took the lift to the second floor. [caption id=“attachment_337833” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Anca Neacsu’s profile image on Twitter. Image courtesy Twitter”]  [/caption] Hamid didn’t take kindly to reporters directly approaching her without reference from her Romanian friend. An attempt to speak to her, as she waited outside the hospital for Peerzada, was met with a cold: “I don’t know who you are. I don’t need to talk to you.” When the media mob charged at Sahil, it was Neacsu who managed to pull Hamid out of the chaos and escort her to a white Mercedes that was waiting for them outside. Today, Neacsu is the one making headlines. She was arrested yesterday by the CBI along with her husband Delhi businessmen Abhishek Verma, who is accused of accepting cash from a Swiss arms company in order to bribe public officials. Son of Congress politicians, Verma was last arrested by the CBI in 2006 for leaking classified information in what has come to be known as the Navy war room leak case and was out on bail. Verma has described Neacsu and Hamid as ‘best friends’, but revealed a more intriguing connection in an interview to Times of India where he said that Neacsu had in the past recommended Hamid for an Indian visa through C Edmonds Allen. And that brings us right back to the latest bit of nasty business at hand. Allen, president of US-based Ganton Defence Limited, is Verma’s former business partner who has since filed complaints to the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate among others accusing Verma of a litany of corruption charges connected with arms deals. The latest arrest of Verma and his wife is connected to a a $530,000 payment made by the Swiss arms company Rheinmetall Air Defence to Ganton’s account. According to Times of India , Allen’s information is likely to play a key role in the latest defence scandal. In Allen’s letter to the Central Vigilance Commission (February 10, 2012), he mentions a certain Red ‘N Pink company “set up at Mr Verma’s request as a model agency but the account is solely utilized by Ms Anca Neacsu and Mr Verma’s partner-cum-companion.” A letter to Commerce Minister Anand Sharma (11 April, 2011) describes Anca as being a “struggling receptionist from Romania (until 3 years ago)” before she was “put up” as the Managing Director of Ganton India Pvt Ltd. That designation appears to have been confirmed, according to the Indian Express  , which notes, “Documents seized by the CBI during raids on Thursday reportedly revealed that [Anca] Maria is a director of Ganton USA and managing director of Ganton India P Ltd” Neacsu is listed as the contact person for Ganton India Private Ltd on a business listings site. But when Firstpost tried to contact her at the listed number, the person at the other end claimed she was “not available.” To end on a more amusing note, Ganton also played a minor part in the IPL brouhaha. Confirming that he had recommended Hamid for an Indian visa, Allen told the Sunday Guardian, “Zohal Hamid, the girl involved in the IPL scandal, works for Ganton Indian Private Limited, at least on paper. At Abhishek Verma’s request last year, I recommended her for a visa to visit India as a dubious consultant of Ganton India." Everything about the Vermas and their associates is dubious indeed!