With the detention of the kingpin of the Bofors scam, Ottavio Quattrocchi, in Argentina, the scam rises again from the grave.

Q - the short identity of Quattrocchi in the Bofors papers seized by the Swedish police - is a dear friend of Sonia and so is his wife, Maria. They were a weekend fixture in Sonia's household till the Bofors scam broke out in April 1987.

Even thereafter, Q stayed in India for six more years. But, when, in the year 1993, Swiss Court named Q as a principal recipient of the bribe from Bofors for the Indian contract, he slipped out of India - a concession Narasimha

Rao made to Sonia to buy peace from her. Things stood still for years.

Later, in the year 2000, the NDA government initiated extradition proceedings against Q when, like in Argentina now, he was detained in Malaysia. But just a day before the final appeal was to be filed by India, which lost the extradition suit in the High Court, Q disappeared from Kuala Lumpur. He turned fugitive later, not traceable by the Interpol.

With Rajiv Gandhi and two other accused in the case no more, only the fear of public opinion had kept the case on, and that too only record purposes. And, with Q, the main culprit absconding, and Sonia, his friend and the presiding deity of the UPA government, attaining sainthood in the year 2004 and turning beyond comment by mortals, all probes into the scam had come to a halt. But with the detention of Q now, the Bofors theatre is re-opening.

The Bofors case is 20 years old. Most Indians of today were in schools and in the lap of their mothers when Bofors tornado tore down the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989. For their benefit, a brief recall of the Bofors scam and Q's role as its kingpin is relevant.

Q came to India from Italy almost along with Sonia. He became an acknowledged power broker close to the Indira Gandhi family. To begin with Q was involved in brokering deals for the Italian corporate Snam Projetti with the Indian government.

Need evidence of Q's capabilities? A secretary to the government openly told a Parliamentary Committee that the Indian government deals with Q's Snam Progetti were for "extra-commercial considerations". If this was Q's reach when Indira was alive, his influence after her and with Sonia in the right place is better imagined.

Bofors deal was post-Indira in time and Rajiv's first major defence purchase. This is the brief story of the deal. Bofors AB the Swedish gun-maker had been striving to sell its guns to the Indian army.

Two power brokers - the Hindujas and Win Chadda - were working for over a decade to clinch the $1.2 billion Indian deal for the Swedish company but with little progress. Rajiv became Prime Minister in December 1984. Finding that the influence of its existing power-brokers was not enough to clinch the deal, Bofors search for a sure clincher for the deal probably led them to Q.

Given some time for discussion to settle terms, in Sept 1985, Q entered the Bofors theatre and later turned the decisive player. He forthwith signed a deal with Bofors through a shell company in UK, AE Services [AES], that if Bofors got the Indian gun contract before March 31, 1986, the Swedish company would pay a commission of 3 per cent, that is, $ 36.5 millions to AES, the alter ego of Q himself. It is ironical that a couple of months after Q had signed brokering contract promising the Indian gun contract for Bofors - which he could not have done but for his association with Rajiv through Sonia - Rajiv Gandhi openly accused the Congress Party of encouraging power brokers!

This self-goal against his own party instantly won him the label 'Mr Clean'. Rajiv became both the ruling party and opposition to it.

Now back to Q. AES was just a facade for Q and his wife Maria. Q's entry altered the equations dramatically in favour of Bofors. He got them the gun deal on March 23, seven days ahead of his promised date, March 31. Soon bribe money started flowing from Bofors AB into Q's account through the shell of AES.

On September 3, 1986, Bofors remitted $ 7.3 million into AES account No 18051-53 in Nordfinanz Bank, Zurich. This was 20per cent of the 3per cent bribe of $36.5 millions due to Q through AES. Two weeks later, on September 16, 1986, AES delivered $ 7 million into account No 254.561.60W in the same back in the name of Colbar Investments - a company controlled by Q and Maria.

The money stood lodged here for over 20 months. Meanwhile, in April 1987, the Swedish Radio broke the news of bribes in Bofors deal with India. This instantly became a huge national issue.

Later, in the second half of June 1988 'The Hindu' newspaper made a sensational disclosure of the authoritative documents seized by the Swedish police, which established the fact of the pay off.

Immediately Q and his wife began shifting the bribe money from Geneva to Channel Islands, to New York to Austria!

First, on July 25, 1988 $7.9 million moved from Colbar to account No 488.320.60X of Wetelsen Overseas SA, in UBS, Geneva. Next, on May 21, 1990, $9.2 million moved from Wetelson to account No123983 of IIDCL, Ansbacher, St.Peter Port, Guernsey (Channel Islands).

Later, on June 5, 1990, $2.4 million channelled into code-named account 'Robusta' in Banque Karfinco SA from Swiss Bank Corp, New York. Afterwards, on June 12, 1990, $5.3 million was transferred to code-named accounts 'Arabica', 'Robusta' and 'Luxor' in Austria from Swiss Bank accounts in Geneva.

How did these details of the bribe to Q come out? This is how. After Rajiv Gandhi who was blocking the probe was voted out, the VP Singh government moved the Swiss Courts to open the secret bank records of the pay off. Q applied to the Swiss court and opposed the release of the bank records.

The Swiss Court dismissed Q's appeal legal and ordered the release of the documents on 23 July 1993. Six days later, Q slipped out of India like normally a criminal flees law. The Indian government got all bank details of the bribe to Q and others in stages. This part of the Bofors story predates Sonia's direct entry in to politics.

Now turn to the Bofors saga and Sonia particularly after Sonia entered active politics.

to be continued...

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, February 26, 2007