Quote:New Delhi The ghost of Bofors returned to haunt the Congress party on Monday with an income tax tribunal saying that kickbacks of Rs 41 crore were paid to late Win Chaddha and Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Howitzer gun deal and that they are liable to pay tax in India on such income.

"…inaction in this regard may lead to a non-existent undesirable and detrimental notion that India is a soft state and one can meddle with its tax laws with impunity," the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) said in its 98-page order.



The Tribunal gave this order while dismissing an appeal by Win Chaddha's son against the income tax department's claim of Rs 52 crore and Rs 85 lakh from his father for the assessment years 1987-88 and 1988-89.



In the order, the Tribunal details the denials by gunmaker Bofors about the existence of middlemen in the 1986 deal valued at Rs 1,437 crore and the efforts by Quarterdeck to open a series of accounts to transfer funds in an attempt to obliterate the money trail.

Quote:So, Bofors did pay bribes!



January 04, 2011 1:57:34 AM



The Pioneer Edit Desk



And Ottavio Quattrocchi was the beneficiary



Truth can be suppressed for some time through deceit and subterfuge, but it has a habit of surfacing, often with a bang and when least expected by those who want it to remain buried forever. So also with the Bofors scandal whose stain the Congress has tried to whitewash for more than two decades now. The Congress had come to believe that the ghost of Bofors, which had haunted the party ever since the scandal of illegal commissions being paid to ‘agents’ in the Howitzer field gun deal came to light in the mid-1980s, had been buried forever when the CBI sought a closure of the case during UPA1’s tenure. The CBI, in it stunning submission, had claimed that it had no evidence against the accused, namely Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian middleman whose proximity to the first family of the Congress is common knowledge. On that occasion, Prime Minister had sought to justify the patently illegal action of the CBI by saying that it was a “shame” to file charges against Quattrocchi; it would appear that Mr Manmohan Singh had had sleepless nights worrying about a bribe-taker who had been declared an absconder by the courts and the closure report came as a relief as much for the Italian fixer as for him. The then Union Minister for Law, Mr HR Bhardwaj, had facilitated that gross act of crippling the criminal justice system. Earlier, the CBI had silently allowed Quattrocchi to empty his London bank accounts where part of the Bofors payola had been stashed and which had been frozen at the initiative of the NDA Government.



But like Banquo’s ghost, the ghost of Bofors can never really be laid to rest till those who looted the nation are brought to justice. Hence, it is not surprising that the entire issue has once again come alive with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal rejecting the appeal of the son of the late Win Chaddha, who was the ‘official agent’ of Bofors and to whom ‘fees’ were paid despite an explicit clause in the contract prohibiting such payment on the instructions of Quattrocchi, to be exempted from paying tax on the ‘income’. The tribunal has also said that the other beneficiary of the deal, Quattrocchi, should also pay tax on the money that was directly paid to him, amounting to three per cent of the total amount. In brief, what has been reiterated, with a total recall of how the ill-gotten money was shifted from account to account in Swiss and offshore banks to confuse investigators and cover-up the crime, is that kickbacks were paid and received in the Bofors deal; the beneficiaries were Chaddha and Quattrocchi; and, the money was stolen from the people of India. Investigations have clearly shown that Chaddha’s Svenska Inc, registered in Panama, was used for funnelling the bribe, as was Quattrocchi’s AE Services.



After Monday’s ruling, the Prime Minister owes an explanation to the nation as to why he allowed the CBI to close the Bofors bribery case; plaintive claims of being honest and pathetic comparisons of himself with Caesar’s wife will not suffice. Nor will silence of the variety that facilitated the Great 2G Robbery answer questions about complicity at the highest level.As for the Congress, it stands exposed, though not for the first time, denuded of all scruples. Meanwhile, Mr Bhardwaj should be sacked from his present job as Governor of Karnataka and prosecuted for his role in the cover-up operation. After all, as the tribunal has noted, there is no reason to let crooks believe “India is a soft state and one can meddle with its laws with impunity”.

Quote:CBI ignores ITAT indictment of 'Q' to push for closure

January 05, 2011 7:13:43 AM

IANS | New Delhi

[url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/308197/CBI-ignores-ITAT-indictment-of-Q-to-push-for-closure.html"]link[/url]

The CBI Tuesday sought the withdrawal of the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors payoff scam, saying it didn't have enough evidence against him and there was no fresh word from the government even after an Income Tax tribunal sensationally ruled that nearly Rs.15-billion gun deal was paid illegally as commission.



Advocate Ajay Agarwal, who is challenging the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea, told the court that the case should be re-looked into as the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal had confirmed that Rs.412 million was paid by Swedish company Bofors to Quattrochi and his associate Win Chadha for felicitating the Howitzer field gun contract in 1986.



"The (CBI) application is not bonafide. There is no public interest involved in the CBI application. It should be rejected. Undue haste has been shown in the matter," Agarwal later told reporters, as the court adjourned for lunch break.