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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 03-13-2007
<!--emo&:blow--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/blow.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='blow.gif' /><!--endemo--> Kab, Q aur kahan?
Chandan Mitra
Years ending with 7 have a mysterious tendency to destabilise governments in India. In 1967, the Congress lost power across a large number of States for the first time since elections began in 1952. Indira Gandhi's Government barely scraped through to retain power in Delhi, but within two years the party split, she was reduced to a minority and widespread political instability gripped the country, leading to the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 1970. Just 10 years later, in 1977, Indira Gandhi and the Congress Party were dislodged from power in the wake of public outrage over the Emergency.
Although Rajiv Gandhi swept the 1984 elections with an unprecedented 410 seats, he met his nemesis with the Bofors revelations in 1987, a year that marked a turning point in Indian politics. Even 1997 did not pass without turmoil. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's first stint in power at the head of a BJP-led Government, (not counting the 13-day footnote Government of 1996) was felled by the mercurial Jayalalithaa in a historic no-confidence vote that Vajpayee lost by one solitary vote! And now in 2007, a 20-year-old scandal has resurfaced to cause the first serious crisis of a regime led de facto by Rajiv Gandhi's widow. Call it the 10-year-itch or the decadal cycle Indian politics has again entered a phase of instability. It is probably not a mere coincidence that even as the Quattrocchi affair raged, Sonia Gandhi's party faced humiliating routs in Punjab and Uttarakhand.
The Bofors crisis spun out of control for two reasons. First, the country was genuinely shell-shocked that a man who people thought was refreshingly different from run-of-the-mill, corrupt politician ended up no different from the rest. Second, it was the ham-handed cover up of the kickbacks paid that resulted in the collapse of popular confidence in the regime. Irrespective of the absence of a smoking gun and despite unanimous endorsement of the quality of the 155 mm howitzers, nobody believed Rajiv Gandhi and his close associates were clean. By today's standards, the Rs 64 crore that was received by way of kickbacks in the Bofors gun deal is mere chickenfeed.
So, it's not the amount that continues to cause moral outrage, it's not Rs 64 crore but the subterfuge, the blatant attempts to mislead public opinion and outright lies that the Government belted out, which have made Bofors a byword for corruption in high places. Bigger scams have been reported since, but public memory gets recharged at the mention of Bofors, especially because, mysteriously, successive Governments (not just Congress-led or supported) have failed to find, leave alone retrieve the money from, the end users of the slush fund.
As the list of surviving dramatis personae gets smaller, attention is focused primarily on the Hinduja brothers, allegedly involved in global arms deals once upon a time. Being arms trader is not a crime, nor is representing an armaments manufacturer. The problem lay with the then Government's unnecessary assertion that no middleman was involved in the Bofors deal, a lie successfully nailed by some intrepid journalistic investigations in the late 80s.
The other figure around whom mystery has, in fact, deepened over the years is Ottavio Quattrocchi, one-time India head of Italian construction giant Snam-Progetti, and avowed friend of the Gandhi family, primarily by virtue of shared national origin with India's current reigning matriarch. It boggles the mind to recall the manner in which the infamous Mr Q was whisked out of Delhi in the darkness of night during the Narasimha Rao regime, just when the Bofors case was hotting up in court. In all probability, the judiciary would have ordered impounding of his passport and passed a directive asking him to stay put in India till disposal of the case. Just before that could happen, Mr Q was facilitated to flee India and strangely landed in Malaysia, where he continued representing his company.
Feigning outrage, the Government roared disapproval of his escape and vowed to get him back, when it would have been that much easier to prevent him leaving in the first place. Predictably, the non-serious pursuit ended in a fiasco when a Malaysian court peremptorily turned down India's quarter-hearted demand for him to be handed over. Unfortunately, later Governments did not take up the issue of signing an extradition treaty with that country and eventually, Mr Q happily returned to his motherland after some years.
The present Government appears determined to obliterate every trail of the Bofors payoffs so that there are no comebacks ever. That prompted the prosecution to weaken arguments against the Hindujas in a way that the courts threw it out on the technical ground that the documents submitted by the Government were not authenticated. The CBI chose not to appeal and the Hinduja chapter was closed. Using this pretext, the Government subsequently went on to assert that there was no case against Quattrocchi either as the related Hinduja case had been dismissed. This specious plea was used to get Quattrocchi's London bank account in which unaccounted funds were lodged unfrozen, enabling him to transfer the money out. So, not only was Mr Q helped to flee India and later leave Malaysia, but also a substantial amount of money was awarded to him. The end user of the payoffs, thus, may never be discovered.
By a quirk of fate when he was detained at a small resort airport in Argentina on February 6 on account of the Interpol Red Corner alert being still in existence, the Government did its level best to hide the news. Taking advantage of Argentina's remoteness from India, we were never told of this till the day the man was actually freed on his second appeal before a local court. Apparently this was plotted so as not to embarrass the Congress Party and its supremo on the eve of the Punjab and Uttarakhand polls. That the suppression did not help the party's electoral fortunes is another matter.
And now, to top it all, the Government is claiming that India does not have an extradition treaty with Argentina although a information bulletin of the Interpol Wing of the CBI, authenticated by the Home Ministry, categorically lists Argentina among the countries with which India has pre-Independence extradition treaties that remain valid. This flies in the face of the External Affairs Ministry's assertion that the treaty lapsed when Parliament passed the Extradition Act in 1962. As they often say, it is the cover up that often exposes the criminal. The more desperate somebody gets to loudly proclaim innocence, the deeper gets the suspicion that there is something to hide.
In other words, the Quattrocchi cover up is fast looking like the original Bofors cover up. Ominously for 10 Janpath, the combination of these adversities comes at a time when, after the withdrawal of support by the MDMK, TRS and Samajwadi Party, the Sonia Alliance's strength in the Lok Sabha is down to 222, making it hopelessly dependent on the 63-member Left for survival. Is a re-run of 1987 in the making?
(Courtesy: The Pioneer; March 4, 2007)
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 04-21-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>'Q'-twist, Argentinian court asks for fresh evidence </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
In a fresh twist to the Quattrocchi case, an Argentinian court has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to furnish fresh evidence, if any, by April 26 so that arguments on its request to extradite Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors case, from that country could begin.
In a communication received at the CBI headquarters from Buenos Aires, the court in El Dorado has issued a notice to the CBI's lawyer Miguel Almeyra and Lilian Delgado appointed by the Argentinian Government to "examine all the documents submitted by Quattrocchi and submit its reply and any further evidence within next five working days."
According to inside sources, the order of April 18 by the court of Hachiro Doi of the First Court of El Dorado in the province of Misiones, about 1,500 km from the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, was given to the counsels on Thursday and the reply will be submitted by April 26.
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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 04-25-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-Mudy+Aug 23 2006, 10:35 PM-->QUOTE(Mudy @ Aug 23 2006, 10:35 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->I was punished because of my stance on US: Natwar<!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Suspended Congress leader and former external affairs minister K Natwar Singh on Wednesday said <b>he has been punished by the party because of his stance on US policies</b>.
<b>"Some party leaders were unhappy with my views on the US foreign policy and that is the main reason behind my suspension,"</b> he told the rally, attended by over 30,000 people, mostly from rural areas.
<b>The former minister said India signed the nuclear deal with the US after long deliberations, but Washington made a few fundamental departures from the original text of the agreement, which was not in favour of New Delhi.</b>
<b>"I vehemently opposed the fundamental changes made in the agreement, which I feel were against the country's interest, but a few people within the Manmohan Singh government did not like my stand on the issue,"</b> he said.
<b>Natwar Singh said in recent times India has become a camp follower of the US, which was against the country's established policy.</b>
<b>"I leave the decision on my political future in the Congress entirely on Sonia Gandhi."</b>
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Oil-for-food scam: ED refuses to give Natwar more info
Pradeep Thakur
[25 Apr, 2007 l 0209 hrs ISTlTIMES NEWS NETWORK]
NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has refused to part with any more documents as demanded by former foreign minister Natwar Singh related to the agencyâs Iraq oil-for-food probe saying that the papers pertained to secrets related to other entities and could hamper the investigation against companies involved in the scam.
The ED has been investigating some big Indian companies for alleged pay-offs to a Baghdad based transport company owned by Saddam Husseinâs family. About 160 Indian companies had made profits out of the oil contracts given by the Saddam regime. A majority of these companies paid surcharge (alleged bribes) through their commission agents.
Arguing before the Delhi High Court on Tuesday, where the former minister has filed a writ petition seeking direction to the investigative agency in this regard, the ED told the court that Singh was demanding all documents that it had procured from the Serious Fraud Office in UK and those obtained by Indiaâs special envoy Virendra Dayal from the UN and the Iraqi government.
ââWe have supplied all relevant documents (to Natwar Singh) relating to his case showing the receipt of oil money in various bank accounts and have asked him to respond to our show cause notice,ââ the ED counsel submitted. He added that allegations against Singh were specific, documents which were relied upon in his case were specific and the same had been provided to him yet the former minister was insisting on inspecting other documents before filing his reply. ââHe wants to make a roving enquiry,ââ the agency said.
ââThere are documents which relate to other persons and entities which we cannot share with him,ââ the ED counsel said, adding that Singhâs demands were without any basis and were intended to derail the investigation.
pradeep.thakur@timesgroup.com
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 06-12-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Case against Q is strong but Govt lacks will </b>
<i>Joginder Singh, former CBI Director, analyses the latest cover-up</i>
A court in El Dorado, Argentina, has rejected the CBI's request to extradite Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian businessman and last principal accused of receiving payoffs in the Bofors deal. This is the second such rejection. Earlier, a Malaysian court rejected a similar request in 2003. However, the CBI says that it will study Friday's verdict for a possible appeal to the Argentine Supreme Court.Â
The correct legal position is that the CBI plays only a marginal role in taking a decision in this kind of cases. The final decision is taken by the Union Law Ministry in all cases wherein an appeal is to be filed either in a High court or the Supreme Court in India. It is the same with cases filed abroad for which all sanctions are to be accorded by the Law Ministry.
Confidential records, obtained and published by a newspaper, show that long before he was detained in Argentina on February 6, Quattrocchi had already been given a clean chit by the senior-most law officers - from the Attorney-General to the Law Secretary, from the CBI's Director of Prosecution to the Additional Solicitor-General.
It was this clean chit that Quattrocchi's lawyer Alejandro Freeland used in the El Dorado court to his client's advantage - a fact he admitted to the newspaper soon after Judge Hachiro Doi dismissed the agency's request. The CBI has until June 20 to file its appeal; Quattrocchi has been asked not to leave Argentina until June 18.
Freeland has told the newspaper that among the papers he presented to the judge was the opinion of CBI's Director of Prosecution SK Sharma - who was, ironically, present in the El Dorado courtroom - that the entire Bofors investigation had become untenable and that "there was no case".
The newspaper claims that it has a copy of Sharma's confidential opinion, though Freeland has refused to divulge how he got a copy. Freeland also added, "I showed (the judge) Sharma's opinion, as well as the two High Court judgements but the CBI did not even bring the High Court judgement of RS Sodhi with them. They withheld so much information that the judge saw through their game."
If the CBI withheld information, it perhaps had reason to - its record of being over-ruled by law officers at almost every step: From the High Court rulings to the decision to defreeze Rs 21 crore parked in his London accounts, which the agency said was linked to the alleged Bofors payoffs.
<b>Other points quoted from the official records include: </b>
On September 2, 2005, Sharma argued against challenging the High Court (Sodhi) verdict. He noted, "It would really be a travesty of justice and fair play, if accused (the Hindujas) are forced to face trial without any definite time and then at the end of the day - say after 15/20 years - the court passes an order of not guilty."
He also said he was against the CBI filing its first chargesheet (in 1999): "...we had no case under the Prevention of Corruption Act or for any offence under the Indian Penal Code or at least our case was very weak." Subsequently,
Law Secretary wrote on July 5, 2004: "The Bofors case was examined in this Department (the Law Ministry) vide notes produced and a view has been taken that it is not a fit case for filing an SLP in the Supreme Court."
Attorney-General of India wrote on the same day: "I have perused the papers; in particular, the careful summary prepared by ... Law Secretary. I agree with the view of the Law Secretary that this is not a fit case for filing a Special Leave Petition."
Additional Solicitor-General argued for defreezing of Quattrocchi's UK accounts on October 7, 2005, saying: "The CBI was unable to show that the funds had any link with the offence alleged. It is clear, that even as regards Quattrocchi, on a parity of reasoning, there is no authentic evidence to connect him with the alleged offence and the case against him cannot stand in a court of law."
Another Additional Solicitor-General B Datta, in a reported e-mail to CBI on December 23, 2005 (after his London visit where he asked for the defreezing of Quattrocchi's accounts) wrote: "The conclusion is that there is no likelihood of the case against Quattrocchi ever succeeding and thus he should not be prosecuted any further is founded on the factual position that the CBI does not have in its possession the necessary relevant and admissible evidence as required under the provisions of the Indian Evidence Act."
Another shocking revelation is that law officers deputed by the Government of India to Britain kept the CBI in the dark on defreezing Quattrocchi's London accounts. Datta's e-mail reached 17 days later by when the money had been withdrawn. At the same time, the deputed law official told Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) officials in Britain to allow the defreezing of the accounts.
The CBI separately kept sending repeated reminders to the CPS that the accounts should remain frozen and was pushing diplomatic channels to uncover the money trail from Lugano, Switzerland, to London to connect the Rs 21 crore with the alleged Bofors kickbacks. The CBI has no authority over the law officers, whose term is co-terminus with the tenure of the Government.
These officers include the Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, and a host of Additional Solicitor-Generals. The Law Ministry assigns them work. The system in the Government is that in any case the CBI takes a final decision after getting all the legal inputs.
There have been cases where legal officers at different levels have tendered conflicting advice and the Director has taken a final decision. But nowhere in the world the legal officer is the final authority. Here it appears that the legal officer became the final authority.
There may be difference of opinion on any issue between two law officers. In a way, this is healthy, provided it is an honest opinion based on facts and not on extraneous conditions or circumstance or considerations. In any event, if things go wrong, the fall guy is the CBI, which normally is made the scapegoat for the failures of others.
Agreed that there may have been two different opinions on the Bofors issue. But how did Quattrocchi's lawyer get hold of the confidential opinions of the Government law officers? Do we then have somebody in our system who smuggled all the papers to him so that Quattrocchi could use them to his advantage? In the entire exercise, the CBI was kept out of the picture except, perhaps as, the fall guy!
Obviously, Quattrocchi has friends in powerful places who have apparently gone out of the way to provide him with file notings. That there are people who, for love or money, can pass original notings to help an accused indicates that the country is facing a grave danger. Beginning with this, it can extend even to the defence of the nation.
Despite all the legal quibbling and hair-splitting by the Law Ministry officials, including CBI's Director of Prosecution, nobody has looked at the agreement entered into by AE Services with Bofors in November 1985 ---- that it would secure the contract before March 31, 1986. The contract was signed on March 24, 1986. Nobody has asked why Bofors transferred $ 7.34 million to Quattrocchi.
Documents showing all this and more were personally brought by me in January 1997 to India from Switzerland. The case against Quattrocchi is still strong as it is based on bank records. He can still be extradited, provided the Government has the will and deputes outstanding lawyers and not Government lawyers whose sole objective may be not to displease anybody in power.Â
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Queen is doing her dance. <!--emo&
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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 06-12-2007
<b>Fresh evidence that law officers kept CBI in dark on de-freezing Q's London accounts</b>
http://in.news.yahoo.com/070610/48/6gv4r.html
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 06-19-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>I'll sue Indian politicians, threatens Q </b>Â <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Rebecca Wright | Buenos Aires
Fresh from a legal success in the extradition case against him, Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi now intends to sue unnamed Indian political leaders for carrying out "political persecution" against him.
Living just outside the Argentinian capital after his arrest at Iguazu international airport in Misiones province, about 1,500 km from here, on an Interpol Red Corner notice on the basis of a CBI alert, on February 6, 68-year-old Quattrocchi maintains that the case against him is "political".Â
However, Quattrocchi did not elaborate on who he would sue and where. "I intend to take legal steps against some political leaders who have created this 20-year-old political persecution. The matter is now with my lawyers," he said in an interview with PTI, more than a week after a provincial court here rejected India's request for his extradition.
The court has given five days' time till early this week for the prosecution to file an appeal against the order and has asked Quattrocchi to stay in Argentina till June 20.
Asked about the CBI's extradition attempts, Quattrocchi said he was "under no doubt that this is a political case."
"Why am I the only one left in this. There must be a reason, and that is political. This cannot go on. These people have tried to make my life difficult. This is an attempt at political persecution that has now lasted for over 20 years," he said.
Quattrocchi "was surprised but not shocked" that some in India were still seeking his extradition, even though he and his co-accused "have been cleared of the crimes of conspiracy and cheating that they were originally sought for and which now dates back to 21 years."
He was arrested in Iguazu on a warrant for "falsification of documentation", a charge that Quattrocchi and his Argentine counsel Alejandro Freeland say was itself a fabrication. "This warrant for falsification of documentation was issued because the CBI could not issue a warrant for corruption or cheating as both charges have been killed in New Delhi and Malaysia," Quattrocchi said.
<b>He claimed that the charges of conspiracy could also not be laid by the CBI against him as "it takes two people to conspire, a meeting of minds, a place and a time, and the CBI has no evidence of any of these things, further the co-accused in the conspiracy charges have been acquitted."</b>
<b>He maintained that he has "never had any contract, or any contact with Bofors."</b>
In its latest pursuit of the Italian businessman, on February 24, the CBI issued a fresh warrant for his arrest 18 days after Quattrocchi was detained on the now-defunct warrant issued in 1997. He was released on a bail of US @10,000.
Freeland argued in the El Dorado court that Quattrocchi's detention on the May 25, 1997 warrant made his arrest here in Argentina illegal.
This view was supported by the judge in his 13-page written ruling issued on June 13.
According to Quattrocchi, Interpol headquarters in Lyon should have objected to this warrant for falsification on the grounds that there was no supporting documentation.
<b>Asked about the falsification charges, Quattrocchi said, "I have never falsified a document in my life, or broken the law of any country."</b>
In his written summary of the verdict, Judge Harichi Doi was unequivocal in saying that it is not his job "to determine culpability in this case but only to decide whether there is a case for extradition."
In a strongly-worded conclusion, Judge Doi summarised that the CBI's case was not supported by the required documentation and thus does not comply with Argentine extradition law and the Argentine Constitution.
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Queen's play mate is crying <!--emo&
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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 08-15-2007
Happy 15th August.
<b>Quattrocchi free man; leaves Argentina for Italy</b> <!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Buneous, Aires, Aug 15: Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrocchi today walked free out of Argentina after a six- month legal battle following India's failure to appeal against a court's decision not to extradite him.Â
....
<b>Indian Ambassador Pramanesh Rath said through a spokesperson that he would not like to comment on the issue</b><!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ofcourse these MEA Jaichands work for Queen and not for country. Shame on these sold out Jaichand of India.
Now we should monitor what kind of gift Mr. Rath will recieve doing good job for Queen. <!--emo&
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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 08-15-2007
<b>Quattrocchi: CBI director blames Jaitley</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->When asked whether he was embarrassed by the development, CBI Director Vijay Shankar told rediff.com: "No, I am not! Why should I feel ashamed about him being released? My predecessors in the CBI and Arun Jaitley had created a weak case."
........
Meanwhile, Jaitley has alleged that the CBI is working in collusion with Quattrocchi.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
How much Queen and Quattrocchi had paid him? how much Congress will get election money from Q?
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 08-17-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Q and the Queen </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Bofors is dead and buried
In withdrawing its appeal before Argentina's Supreme Court the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has more than just allowed Italian fugitive from Indian law Ottavio Quattrocchi to walk free. <b>It has confirmed fears that it is systemically killing and burying the Bofors case and allowing its principal living suspect - Quattrocchi is a long-time family friend of Ms Sonia Gandhi - to escape</b>. With the sabotage in Buenos Aires, it now becomes virtually impossible to carry forward the trail of the Bofors slush money. So far it has been traced from Bofors accounts to those of a series of intermediaries and, finally, to the Swiss bank account of Colbar Investments, a Panama-based company owned by Quattrocchi. That information was confirmed in 1997, when the CBI, under the United Front Government, received the necessary papers relating to Colbar's account. Quattrocchi, meanwhile, had already fled the country, being smuggled out by a Congress Government in 1993. Since then, the CBI has been trying to interrogate Quattrocchi. While some progress was made under the NDA Government when the Bofors chargesheet was formally filed, Quattrocchi's sponsors - political and business - did their utmost even in the BJP years to keep him from harm's way.
In 2004, when the Congress returned to power, the covert operation became more or less state policy. In 2004, the Delhi High Court dismissed a case of political corruption against Rajiv Gandhi and Mr SK Bhatnagar, Defence Secretary when the Bofors gun deal was signed in 1987. In 2005, the same court dismissed a case against the Hindujas - alleged co-recipients of the Bofors bribe. Both these reverses were caused by technicalities. Yet they were never appealed against by the CBI. In 2005, the CBI chose to cite the Delhi High Court verdicts to allow the British authorities to de-freeze Quattrocchi's funds in a London bank account. This money had been moved to London from the Colbar account in Switzerland. Next, earlier in 2007, Quattrocchi was arrested in Argentina on the basis of an Interpol alert pending since the days of the Bofors chargesheet. His lawyers pointed to the fact that Indian courts had "exonerated" him and that the CBI had supported that exoneration by not only not appealing in a higher court in India but also allowing Quattrocchi access to his money in Britain. <b>With the CBI half-heartedly entering the fray in Argentina - it took its time finding an English-to-Spanish translator and perfunctorily sought the extradition of Quattrocchi - it was clear that the Government of India was once again set to bail out its favourite Italian.</b>
The Bofors case was perhaps the most celebrated case of political corruption in Indian history. It contributed substantially to the defeat of the Rajiv Gandhi Government in 1989, a defeat from which the Congress has never really recovered. In that sense Quattrocchi and his co-conspirators changed the course of Indian politics. Yet one has to accept that the disgraceful conduct of the CBI and the cover-up by the UPA Government have ensured the legal case is now as good as finished. The political issue is another matter. By going out of its way to help Ms Sonia Gandhi's former countryman, the Congress has only bolstered the perception that its first family is hiding a deep, dark and dirty secret.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 08-18-2007
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>BJP firm on nailing Govt for Q lapses </b>
Pioneer News Service | New Delhi
The BJP has made it clear that though the furore over the India-US civil nuclear agreement prevented it from raising the question of Ottavio Quattrocchi's issue in Parliament, it had no intention to spare the UPA Government. The party said it would expose "the conspiracy (by the Government) to let the Bofors case Italian accused off the hook."
"The Speaker had admitted our notice on the issue but there could be no discussion today. We will raise it vociferously in and outside the House," BJP parliamentary party spokesman VK Malhotra told mediapersons on Thursday.
He held the Government squarely responsible for allowing Quattrocchi to walk free from Argentina, alleging that it was a "serious lapse" on its part.
"All this was a collusive exercise to allow Quattrochi to escape and I think the CBI must be complementing itself along with the Government of India but they need to be exposed in the whole country for having done this," Malhotra said.
The BJP leader dismissed the CBI's claim that the External Affairs Ministry did not inform it about Quattrocchi's discharge in time.
"The CBI, the External Affairs Ministry and the entire UPA Government have ganged up to help the Italian businessman escape facing criminal charges in Indian court because of his close relationship with India's self-styled first family," Malhotra said.
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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 01-16-2008
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Q's extradition: Govt failed to submit documents
PTI | New Delhi
Posted online: January 15, 2008
The Indian Government failed to submit requisite documents to an Argentine court to secure the extradition of Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors case, according to the overseas court's order placed before the Supreme Court by the CBI on Monday.
Sixtynine-year old Quattrocchi walked to freedom after the El Dorado court rejected India's plea for his extradition on June 8, 2007.
<b>"Government of Republic of India has failed to submit a court resolution ordering the issuance of the arrest order, dated May 25, 1997, which is the origin and reason of the commencement of these proceeding (extradition),"</b> the Argentine court order translated from Spanish to English by the agency said.
"Furthermore, the Government of India has attached a copy of the arrest order and of the court resolution dated February 24, 2007 which provides no pertinent grounds for arrest," the order said.
CBI had to place its own translated copy of the order as it failed to secure the certified translated copy from the Argentine court.
<b>"Despite our best effort to secure the translated copy of the order from the Argentine court we have failed," </b>Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said before a Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan.
The El Dorado Court had held that "since the documentation submitted by India does not meet the requirements of its (Argentine) law, the extradition order against Quattrocchi cannot be sustained".
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Queen' bfriend is free at last, thanks to Indian diplomats, India's great MEA who works for queen not for country.
Let us congratulate whole government machinery who spent day and night to protect Q, these traitors should thanks to every Indian citizen who pay their salary and provide them living, that sweat money is well spent on one person.
Bharat Ratan should we given to traitors of India - MEA, CBI and Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium (Q and Ram Setu fame)
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 02-22-2008
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Natwar bids good bye to Cong</b>
PTI | New Delhi
Posted online: February 21, 2008
After over two decades of association with Congress, former External Affairs Minister K Natwar Singh has bid goodbye to the party and said he would resign from Rajya Sabha from which his disqualification has been sought.
The septuagenarian leader said that he has resigned from the primary membership of Congress and a letter to this effect was sent on Thursday to party president Sonia Gandhi.
Singh, once a close associate of Gandhi, turned her critic after the Iraqi oil-for-food scam broke out and he was forced to resign from the Government in November 2005.
Asked whether he would also quit his seat in the Upper House, Singh, whose Rajya Sabha tenure from his native Rajasthan comes to an end in early April, said "I probably.... will leave".
Singh had announced his decision to leave Congress at a BJP rally in Jaipur last week in the presence of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje.
"You will come to know" was his response when asked about his course of action and whether he would be joining BJP.
"Disqualifying me is not that easy," he said when asked about Congress initiating the process for his disqualification from the RajyaÂ
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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Capt M Kumar - 04-29-2008
<!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo--> Law Minister's 'missing passport' revives Bofors ghost
Sumon K Chakrabarti
CNN-IBN
THE MISSING LINK: Law Ministry says Bharadwah's passport ânot availableâ with them.
New Delhi: In January 2006, CNN-IBN reported that additional solicitor general of India B Dutta had told British authorities to defreeze two London bank accounts of Ottavio Quattrochi, the main accused in the Bofors scandal.
These bank accounts allegedly contained money received as kickbacks from the multi-crore deal.
The accounts were frozen on request from CBI.
Last month, through an RTI application, CNN-IBN found Indiaâs Law and Justice Minister Hansraj Bharadwaj may have made the defreezing request himself.
But in a reply to the RTI, the Law Ministry says that passport of their Minister is ânot availableâ with them.
"It clearly proves that Bharadwaj's ministry is trying to hide something controversial,â says RTI activist, Dev Ashish Bhattacharya.
In November 2007, the Law Ministry said that while returning from the Commonwealth Law Ministers meeting in Ghana, Bharadwaj "visited London to have discussions with counsels and solicitors engaged by the Government of India to represent or defend Union of India in various cases pending in London."
But three months later, in a reply filed to an RTI query on specifics of the 2005 London visit from CNN-IBN, the Ministry did a U-turn.
Bharadwaj never visited London in 2005, said the reply, because "he had to pre-pone his return to India."
This despite giving exact details on the money spent in Britain on tour making the suspicions of a cover-up real.
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 05-05-2009
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>PMâs concert in âQâ major</b>
pioneer.com
A Surya Prakash
As a grand finale to its subservient five years in office and as a tribute to its benefactor and mentor, the Manmohan Orchestra is now playing âConcerto Quattrocchiâ at the Delhi Opera. Members of this orchestra â who constitute the biggest ensemble of Italy-trained political musicians â are playing their hearts out to impress the presiding deity at 10, Janpath. Beginning with the conductor, everyone is hoping for renewal of their contracts after May 16, smug in the belief that the people of India will reward them for their unstinted sycophancy.
The Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, has surely established himself as a conductor par excellence in the eyes of his benefactor by defending the withdrawal of the âRed Corner Noticeâ against Ottavio Quattrocchi. <b>He has declared that the Quattrocchi case is an âembarrassmentâ for the Government because the world sees this Italian fugitive and friend of Mr Sonia Gandhi as someone who is being âharassedâ by us.</b> <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo--> Many others have chipped in to please their political boss. Among them, the Law Minister, Mr HR Bhardwaj, the partyâs Spokesperson, <b>Mr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who says those who question the Governmentâs decision are âflogging a dead horseâ, and finally, Mr Shashi Tharoor, the new kid on the political block. He describes Quattrocchi as a âpoor gentlemanâ. Many of Mr Tharoorâs admirers are shocked by the speed and eagerness with which he has contributed to âConcerto Quattrocchiâ.</b>
This concert must surely be music to the ears of Ms Gandhi but Mr Singh and his colleagues are oblivious of the fact that this is cacophonous to those who value national security and rule of law. Therefore, lest Mr Singh and his colleagues get away with this cacophony, it would be in order to put the record straight and place the facts about Bofors and Quattrocchi before the people.
The Bofors bribery scandal is a loot-and-scoot saga dating back to the 1980s. The story began with the Rajiv Gandhi Governmentâs decision in April, 1984 to buy 155 mm guns for the Army. Sofma of France, AB Bofors of Sweden and Voest Alpine of Austria were the main contenders for the contract. The Army held many field trials and chose Sofma. However, for inexplicable reasons, Bofors forged ahead in the final stages of evaluation and the contract for purchase of field guns from this company was signed on March 24, 1986.
<b>The payoffs scandal broke when Swedish Radio revealed that Bofors had paid bribes to clinch the $ 1.3 billion contract. Rajiv Gandhi tried desperately to quell the rumours, but the people did not believe him because the media investigations contradicted his claims. </b>Second, many of the actions of his Government were not sanguine. For example, he agreed to a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the deal, but packed the committee with cronies and secured a âreportâ which said no commissions or bribes had been paid.
The conclusions of the JPC were not worth the paper they were printed on because it went about its task as if its remit was to do a whitewash. Its conclusions turned out to be bogus when newspapers produced evidence which showed Bofors had made payments to several accounts of several individuals in Swiss banks in connection with the deal. Among media houses, the Hindu and the Indian Express were in the vanguard of investigations. The Hindu produced evidence that demolished Rajiv Gandhiâs claims that no commissions or bribes were paid. It showed that not only was Quattrocchi one of the beneficiaries but also a key player.
Negotiations with the three main contenders for the contract and the field trials were on since April, 1984. Suddenly, in November, 1985 Bofors entered into a strange contract with a company called AE Services. This contract guaranteed AE Services three per cent commission if the contract was concluded before March 31, 1986. Strangely, the contract with Bofors was signed on March 24, 1986 â a week before the expiry of the deadline stipulated in the Bofors-AE Services deal.
Two months later, India paid Bofors 20 per cent of the contractual value and Bofors promptly transferred $ 7.343 million (equivalent of three per cent of the amount paid by India) to the AE Services account in Nordfinanz Bank, Zurich. Investigators following the money trail found that this sum was subsequently transferred by AE Services to the Swiss bank account operated by Maria and Ottavio Quattrocchi in the name of âColbar Investmentsâ.
On August 6, 1987, when Parliament resolved to inquire into the payoffs, the Quattrocchis transferred this money to yet another bank account operated by them. Thereafter, the money was transferred to accounts in the UK. The NDA Government headed by Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee got the British Government to freeze these accounts.
But the biggest giveaway was the most extraordinary move ever made in an international deal. After the scandal came to light, AE Services wrote a letter to Bofors and voluntarily surrendered the three per cent commission that was due to it on the remaining payments (80 per cent of the contract value) to be made by India. Have you ever heard of a company that voluntarily surrenders millions of dollars which are due to it? Once the Indian investigators laid their hands on bank documents, the Quattrocchis took to their heels. Thereafter, Interpol put out a âRed Corner Noticeâ for Quattrocchi.
<b>Despite all this evidence, Mr Singhâs Government unlocked Quattrocchiâs UK accounts and enabled him to lay his hands on this ill-gotten wealth. </b>Thereafter, it deliberately goofed up the extradition process when he was arrested in Argentina and now, just before it demits office, it has got Interpol to withdraw the âRed Corner Noticeâ.
After having delivered all this to his Italian-born boss, Mr Singh says the Quattrocchi case is an âembarrassmentâ for his Government because the world sees us as âharassingâ this Italian. The Law Minister and the Congress spokespersons play along. Finally, incredulous as it may seem, the litterateur-diplomat-turned-Congress votary describes Quattrocchi as âa poor gentlemanâ. Tch, tch. <b>Such poverty of thought on entering politics!</b>
If we value our hard-earned freedom and rule of law, if we wish to end this tradition of loot-and-scoot, if we do not want foreigners to inveigle themselves into our system and corrupt it, we must shut down this orchestra. We must also hope that the new Government will have the political will and commitment to get to the root of the scandal and officially declare who Quattrocchi was fronting for.
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Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Capt M Kumar - 05-31-2009
<!--emo&:ind--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/india.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='india.gif' /><!--endemo--> When a reporter put a question stating that he was sorry to point out the manner in which Moily's predecessor, HR Bhardwaj, had given a clean chit to Quattrocchi, the Italian businessman who was once close to the Gandhi family, the new law minister retorted: "There is nothing to be sorry about it. If any mid-course correction is needed, we will do it. Administration of justice is a dynamic process."
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2009/20090530/main6.htm
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Capt M Kumar - 06-01-2009
<!--emo&:eager--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lmaosmiley.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='lmaosmiley.gif' /><!--endemo--> http://www.politicsparty.com/q-bofors.php
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 06-01-2009
<!--QuoteBegin-Capt M Kumar+Jun 1 2009, 12:58 AM-->QUOTE(Capt M Kumar @ Jun 1 2009, 12:58 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--emo&:eager--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/lmaosmiley.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='lmaosmiley.gif' /><!--endemo--> http://www.politicsparty.com/q-bofors.php
[right][snapback]98122[/snapback][/right]
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Karma bites. <!--emo&
--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif' /><!--endemo-->
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Capt M Kumar - 09-08-2009
The CBI on Tuesday sought two weeks' time before a Delhi court for exploring the options available to it in the Bofors payoff case
after the withdrawal of Red Corner notice against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Additional solicitor general P P Malhotra submitted a status report in a court of metropolitan magistrate Manish Yaduvanshi and said the CBI needed two weeks' time to examine the options for proceeding against Quattrocchi.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/in...how/4985302.cms
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Guest - 09-30-2009
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>CBI decides to withdraw all cases against Quattrocchi</b>
TIMES NEWS NETWORK & AGENCIES 29 September 2009, 04:40pm IST
NEW DELHI: The two-decade old Bofors payoff case may finally be buried with the Centre on Tuesday telling the Supreme Court that it has decided to withdraw case against Italian Businessmen Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told a bench, headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishanan, that all efforts to extradite Quattrocchi, an accused in the case relating to payment of Rs 64 crore as commission in the Howitzer deal, have failed. ( Watch Video )
He said the CBI has taken the decision to close the case by also taking into account Delhi High Court judgement of 2004 which had held that no case of corruption was made out in the Bofors deal.
Subramanium said the government came to the decision after taking into account all the facts of the case.
The Solicitor General's statement in the court came under immediate attack from the BJP and the lawyer who is pursuing the Bofors case in the Supreme Court while the Congress Party said that after all the case has to come to a closure.
The Supreme Court will hear the matter on December 11.
On September 8, the CBI had sought two weeks' time before a Delhi court for exploring the options available to it in the Bofors payoff case after the withdrawal of Red Corner notice against Italian Businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/in...how/5068475.cms
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Appointed Prime Minister of India, doing his service to Queen.
Queen's B'Friend is free man, now Embassy whores are free to help him, start new loot of Indian resources.
Volcker & Bofors - Congress Party involvement - Capt M Kumar - 01-03-2011
"It was a fraud. After this (tribunal) order, you need to reopen the criminal matter and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) surely can't be trusted with it. There is no better case to have a SIT (special investigation team) to reinvestigate this matter, which was closed because of fraud," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
"How can this country have a situation where the criminal investigative agency says there are no kickbacks. And the highest revenue agency says taxes are payable on these kickbacks," he said.
Read more: BJP demands fresh probe into Bofors kickbacks - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/BJP-demands-fresh-probe-into-Bofors-kickbacks-/articleshow/7211823.cms#ixzz19zNNSn7d