Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj claims that the CBI has given a clean chit to Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors case. But the CBI which works under him denies it. It goes on to say 'Quattrochhi is still an accused'; asserts it will extradite him to India.

Yet, Bharadwaj moves forward, allows Quattrochchi to get away with the loot of Rs 20 crores impounded by the CBI in London.

The Bofors pay-off is a forgotten story for many. So a recap is necessary. The scandal goes back to 1986. It related to a $ 1.3 billion contract to buy artillery guns for the Indian army. Ottavio Quattrocchi, the villain in this drama, was one the three secret agents engaged to win this deal for Bofors - the others being the Hindujas and one Win Chaddha.

Quattrocchi ['Q'] entered into a secret deal with Bofors through a London-based shell company AE services Ltd [AES] in mind-November 1985. AES - read 'Q' - promised to procure the gun deal for Bofors by March 31, 1986 for a commission of 3%, that is, $36 million plus; if it did not, of course it was to get nothing.

As promised, AES delivered the gun supply contract to Bofors six days ahead of March 31 and also got 20% of its dues in Aug 1986, amounting $7.3 million. It was all to remain secret and had remained so for a year.

But, in April 1987, Swedish Radio stunningly disclosed that Indian officials and politicians had been paid bribes in the deal. The Indian government forthwith denied the charge. But with Swedish Radio having opened the can of worms, evidence began pointing to Rajiv Gandhi himself. His conduct in handling the expose itself incriminated him.

The critical piece of evidence against Rajiv Gandhi and his family was the involvement of 'Q'. 'Q' and his wife Maria came almost as Sonia's 'Stridhan' from Italy and latched themselves on to the Indira / Rajiv Gandhi family. Any one initiated into political circles in Delhi knew about 'Q'. He was known as the best friend of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's household! He was also known asS a trusted deal maker for the family.

Another close friend of the Indira Gandhi family, Swaraj Paul, says in his book ' Beyond Boundaries - a Memoir' that 'Q's attempt to make deals on behalf the Italian company Snamprogetti for Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi was the reason Paul fell out with the family'.

So 'Q' was the in-house retainer. His involvement in Bofors deal was no exception - but a logical extension of his assignment. In the diary of Bofors Managing Director Martin Ardbo seized by the Swedish government there were entries referring to 'Q', 'R', 'AES' and also 'Gandhi Trust Lawyer'- all in connection with the pay-off. While AES was obvious, the needle of suspicion pointed to Quattrocchi for 'Q', to Rajiv Gandhi for 'R' and to the representative of the Rajiv Gandhi family for 'Gandhi Trust Lawyer'.

A vigilant Indian media thwarted all attempts by the government to suppress the expose. The result: the ruling party lost all credibility and Rajiv lost the 1989 elections fought on the issue of corruption.

The VP Singh government started an honest investigation, and filed an FIR. It got the Swiss government to agree to open its bank records as most of the bribes had gone through the coded Swiss bank accounts. But after the VP Singh fell in 1990-end, the first effort was made to destroy the case judicially. The Additional Solicitor General KTS Tulsi as counsel for the CBI argued the case against the CBI and for the accused!

However, after Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated, Narasimha Rao assumed power. Rajiv's demise would normally have depoliticised the case, but the involvement of 'Q', by implication the Rajiv Gandhi family, would not allow it to die. As evidence against 'Q' was mounting the Narasimha Rao government quietly allowed him to run away to Malaysia?

Yet another attempt was made to scuttle the investigation through the then External Affairs Minister Madhav Singh Solanki. He handed a secret advice to the Swiss government to stop giving further information to the CBI! When this got exposed Solanki had to resign from the ministry.

The Tulsi and Solanki episodes had established the designs of the Congress Party to scuttle the probe.

The NDA rule made tardy progress on Bofors. It probably suited Vajpayee to keep a weak Sonia under pressure than expedite the case to punish the culprits. Still, the NDA government got details of secret payments from Swiss bank records which led to the freezing of the AES account in London. It also filed the charge sheet against 'Q' among others and started, but failed in, extradition proceedings against 'Q' in Malaysia.

The UPA government came to power in April 2004. The Delhi High Court soon delivered an astonishing judgement holding that no bribe was involved in the Bofors deal. Predictably the Manmohan Singh government did not file an appeal against it. A PIL filed against this order is pending in the Supreme Court. Also in the criminal case filed by the CBI against 'Q', he is still an accused and it says it is exerting to get him extradited. Yet Bharadwaj says that 'Q' is being allowed to draw Rs. 20 crores in the frozen AES account in London which, the CBI says, represents the bribe!

Thus, as the last rites for the Bofors case are being performed, and the government is officially and proudly releasing the bribe money to 'Q', the Prime Minister, projected by the media as an honest being, is observing funeral silence.

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, January 21, 2006