08-17-2007, 12:49 AM
<!--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-->
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-->