India's Bofors scandal

Several years-old corruption case that is still haunting the Gandhi family like a vile stain on the feet.

In the 1980s, Rajiv Gandhi's government issued tenders of the 410 cannons for the army with a range of 155mm to 30 km. Despite the general's opposition, tenders for the cannons were accepted in the name of Bofors, a Swedish arms company. The irony is that this company was illegally involved in the tender race. In principle, the words of the Indian emperor carry weight. The then Army Chief Krishna Swami Sundarji was in favor of the cannons of the French company Sofma because his range was eight kilometers longer than the Bofors cannons. The matter was settled and the Bofors artillery joined the Indian army.

Rajiv Gandhi's government was still in power when a report was broadcast on a local Swedish radio station shortly after the deal, claiming that the Bofors company had paid a bribe to take orders from India. At that time, VP Singh was the Finance Minister in the Rajiv government. He wanted to take action, but the government changed his mind and handed him over to the Ministry of Defense. 

Nevertheless, they exposed the Bofors scandal. As a result, he was dismissed from his ministry. He later resigned from the Congress party and brought the opposition parties together on one platform. Among these parties, the Lok Dal, the Indian National Congress (Socialist), the Jan Morcha, etc. formed the National Front under the leadership of VP Singh and won the elections in 1989. Thus VP Singh became the Prime Minister. Rajiv Gandhi's defeat in this election was due to the disgraceful Bofors scandal.

The main character in this scandal is Ottavio Quattrocchi. Born in Sicily in 1938, Ottavio Katrachi came to India in the 1960s as a representative of the Italian oil and gas firm Eni and its engineering arm, Snamprogetti. Rajiv and his Italian-born wife Sonia Gandhi, who is currently the President of the Congress Party.

In 1974,Katrachi was introduced to Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi by an Italian man, Molinari (Molinari). At that time Rajiv Gandhi was a pilot in Indian Airlines. Italian food and gifts were exchanged between them. Thus the Katrachi family became very close to Rajiv Gandhi and his wife Sonia Gandhi.

Katrachi's influence in the Prime Minister's Office grew to such an extent that the top government officials of the Delhi bureaucracy would rise from their seats on his arrival. The last period of the Gandhi dynasty (1980-1987) was a golden age for Katrachi in India. Everything he touched would turn to gold. Not a single offer of a deal between him and the Indian government was rejected. 

According to a Congress party worker at the time, the fertilizer contracts were also won by Sanamprogati, which was believed to have been awarded in the interest of Sonia and Rajiv Gandhi. His influence on Indian ministers increased to such an extent that the then Union Finance Minister VP Singh was unable to do so.

The Bofors scandal came to light when the secret diary of Bofors managing director Martin Ardbo was leaked to journalists Chitra Subramaniam and N Ram, affiliated with Indian English daily The Hindu. It had clear indications of "Q" and "R" in many places, among other things. 

When the investigation team investigated the transfer of money to Swiss banks, Q was identified as Otavio Katrachi, an account holder. The secret of R was also soon revealed. This meant Rajiv Gandhi. The Indian CBI also obtained copies of the diary but the court refused to accept his health as it contained photocopies instead of the original.

To prevent the scandal, the Indian government did its best to suppress the matter with the Swedish authorities. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), after receiving information from its sources, said in a final statement, "Of course, Bofors has paid the commission in this case." This 2.1 billion went directly into the pockets of Indian officials or through a broker, ”he said.

No action could be taken against Rajiv Gandhi legally but the Congress party politicians themselves went after the scandal. This shook Rajiv Gandhi's government, which eventually led to his electoral defeat in 1989. For almost four years (1989-1993) no significant progress was made on this scandal. During this time in 1991 Rajiv Gandhi himself went to hell.

On October 1999, the Bharatiya Janata Party, also known as the BJP, came to power. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) then indicted Katrachi and his wife Maria. This was done on the basis of 500 Swiss bank documents. His collaborators included Rajiv Gandhi and some other office bearers of the Congress party. It was also stated in the indictment that Katrachi was given A.E. 3% of the  7 million commission was paid through Services. It is as if the ghost of Bofors clung to Rajiv Gandhi even after his death.

Despite the indictment, the BJP could not find conclusive evidence but the case was further strengthened when Interpol seized two BSI AG Bank London accounts 5A5151516M and 5A5151516L belonging to Katrachi and his wife Maria in June 2003. ۔ They contained three million euros and one million US dollars. An Indian newspaper wrote on it: "It is curious to have so much money in a salaried person's savings account." These accounts were frozen at the official request of the Indian CBI. Katrachi filed several appeals to have his account frozen, but British courts rejected all of them. This was made possible by the hard work and solid evidence of the CBI.

In 2004, the Congress came to power again. Manmohan Singh became the Prime Minister but Sonia Gandhi remained the party president. Of course, it will be Sonia Gandhi's pressure that on 22 December 2005, the Indian government changed its stance in this regard. Law Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj sent Additional Solicitor General of India B Dutta specifically to London to arrange for the freezing or reopening of Katrachi's frozen account. The Indian law ministry did not seek any advice from the country's CBI in this regard.

On 16 January 2006, a lawsuit was filed in the Indian Supreme Court seeking an order from the CBI to ensure that no money could be withdrawn from Katrachi's London account until the Indian government It does not state its position in this regard, but before the decision of the Supreme Court, four million US dollars were withdrawn from these two accounts. The move drew a lot of criticism from the government and weakened Sonia Gandhi's position.

In February 2006, the Delhi High Court quashed allegations of bribery against Rajiv Gandhi and others. The reason for this was insufficient evidence and proof which did not prove that any commission was ever given to these people. On this, Sonia Gandhi celebrated and stated, “After seventeen years of abuse and slander, This is a very special moment for me and my children Rahul and Priyanka. ” However, the case is not over. Two counts of fraud and misconduct have been pending in the courts.

In April 2009, Interpol revoked Ottavio Katrachi's red warrant. How strange that this was done at the request of the CBI itself. In contrast to the CBI's nearly two-decade-long investigation, an income tax court has ruled that Katrachi and his accomplice Chadha took Rs 410 million in bribes as a Bofors agent.

On the other hand, on 4 March 2011, the Chief Magistrate of the Delhi court, Vinod Yadav, closed the case of the 25-year-old Bofors, saying that the CBI, after 21 years of hard work was still trying to collect Rs 40 billion as commission against Katrachi. Couldn't prove it legally.

Finally, on July 13, 2013, in Milan, Italy, Ottavio Katrachi went with him to the other world for the sake of Bofors. Thus the second character of the Bofors scandal came to an end.

The Bofors gin kept coming out of the bottle, and on July 25,2017, it came out again. A TV interview with Sweden's Chief Investigating Officer Sten Lindstrom aired on July 25. These are the same Swedish officers who handed over more than three and a half hundred documents to Indian journalist Chitra Subramaniam in 1987. She was working for The Hindu at the time and did not publish it. The details of the Bofors scandal were given to Stan Lindstrom by Martin himself, the head of the Bofors company.

In 1986, the Indian government called for tenders for cannons. Two months before the gun deal was signed, Rajiv Gandhi flew with his Swedish counterpart. Bofors chief Martin was also present on the trip. Matters were settled between the two. Katrachi was selected for the payment, which was to be made through Swiss banks. The company paid more than 9.9 million to the cannon broker. Ten million US dollars were given to prominent Indian politicians and senior officials of the Ministry of Defense.

This interview also reminded me of all the old things when it was revealed that in 2011 Rajiv Gandhi had 2.5 billion Swiss francs in his secret Indian account in Switzerland and that Sonia Gandhi, now as Rajiv Gandhi's widow, had his secret 1.5 billion Swiss francs. (Which amounts to US  2.2 billion).

This wealth is in the banks where the most disgraced people of the world keep the looted money of their homeland. Now the money is in the name of Sonia Gandhi's youngest son. This account must be from before June 1988, when Rahul Gandhi was young. This looted goods now amount to about ten thousand crore Indian rupees. This "black money" thrives in Swiss banks. At that time, the long-term bribe of 2.2 billion would have been multiplied by 9.41 billion. That is Rs 42345 Indian. According to economists, such funds are kept in long-term bonds in the ratio of 50: 50, so it became 19.11 billion (Indian Rs 355 crore).

Swedish investigative officer Lindastrom regrets that he has not been contacted by any detectives, investigative officers, etc. from India in the last 30 years. In Sweden itself, the case was closed in 1988. They no longer rely on the Swedish and Indian authorities, so what they know is being transferred to Chitra.

Nowadays, there is a BJP government, so all those interests and storytelling have become a thing of the past, due to which Rajiv Gandhi's involvement in the Bofors case was registered in one way or another. The scandal was raised in the Lok Sabha by BJP's Nishi Kant Dubey. When these revelations were answered in the Indian Parliament (Lok Sabha), Sonia and Rahul Gandhi walked out.

Thus the gin of the Bofors bottle came out once more. Of course, this case has never been properly investigated. Nishikant demanded that the CBI re-investigate the case and also challenged the 2005 order of the Delhi High Court. The Bofors scandal was the death knell for the Congress and the Gandhi family. It destroyed Rajiv Gandhi's Congress government. No matter what anyone says, it is a fact that India's oldest political party, the Congress, has a stigma on its forehead that does not wash away and does not allow Rajiv Gandhi to take over China even after his death.

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