Do not bring Muslims for demonstrating a sophisticated spyware, an Indian firm dealing with Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the country’s premier foreign intelligence wing, told controversial Italian surveillance malware vendor Hacking Team in one of the emails during the negotiation stage.
The string of emails were made public by whistleblower website WikiLeaks on Thursday. Vikas Sharma, the chief executive officer of Gurgaon-based Sunworks Consultants, had written the email to Marco Bettini, the sales manager of Hacking Team in July 2011, reflecting the anti-Muslim bias in the intelligence circles.
Sharma was negotiating on behalf of the RAW in purchasing ‘Remote Control Service’ or ‘Galileo’, a spy product used to infect mobiles and computers stealthily.
The FBI reportedly spent $ 7.7 million since 2011 for this spyware.
Sharma reportedly told Bettini that his team should be trained for demonstrating the product before the client if they do not allow foreigners to make the presentation.
“However, in case the customers agree,” Sharma wrote, “your demonstration can be provided by your people only in our office premises. No business cards can be exchanged. Please ensure that no Muslims are part of the demonstration team.”
No reason was stated for the curt instruction on Muslims. They were also kept away from handling sensitive posts in RAW and Intelligence Bureau (IB) with the exception of Syed Ibrahim, who recently retired as the chief of IB.
Bettini was not willing to allow Sharma's team to make the presentation on their behalf but “was more than willing to meet” the client in a hotel or at Sharma's company as suggested.
Before revealing he was negotiating on behalf of the RAW, Sharma wrote: “you have not worked with the agency in question. This agency is not answerable to any other government agency. All other intelligence agencies in Delhi are working under some minister except this.”
The emails also revealed concealed information that there could be no paper trail showing RAW buying equipment from abroad. “The system has to be provided under our name since the agency cannot buy it from a foreign agency,” he wrote.
Though his company's profile on its website does not talk about its involvement with the agency, Sharma also informed Bettini that he was working with the RAW since 2006 and working on three projects.
The outcome of the deal was not known though.
Sharma or Sunworks Consultants could not be reached for their reaction.