Audit of a blown-up scandal

Rs 250 crore spent in chasing the Rs 64 crore Bofors scandal in which no one comes out unblemished

HN Special Correspondent Delhi

In one of the secret files of the government sits a letter, a testimony of the botched attempts of the former prime minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his law minister, Arun Jaitley, to extradite former Snamprogetti agent in India, Ottavio Quattrocchi, to India from Italy.

Quattrocchi, known to be close to Sonia Gandhi, allegedly received a substantial amount of money for swinging a contract in favour of the Swedish arms manufacturer, Bofors, in 1987. Indian security had been chasing Quattrocchi in the hope that his arrest would reveal the truth that had been eluding them in this politically-significant scandal.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who were in power till 2004 and are going ballistic over the manner in which the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government de-froze the Italian businessman's account in London, would be disinclined to reveal the contents of the letter from Rome. Highly-placed sources in the government reveal that on the eve of the aborted visit by Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi to India in 2003, the Italian government wanted to know the nature of evidence Indian agencies had against Quattrocchi to entertain Delhi's repeated request for his extradition. They also wanted Delhi to withdraw the red corner notice against him.

Italians were not impressed by the quality of evidence presented by Indian investigating agency, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and refused to touch Quattrocchi. The tone of the letter, it is learnt, is quite tough and hints at how the Italian businessman has been hounded by the Indian police. This was a cruel blow to the CBI and the BJP, which was hoping to build on the success whiffed by them when they managed to freeze Rs 21 crore in the Italian's account after the tip-off from Interpol. They were desperate to lay their hands on the Italian businessman before the parliament elections in 2004 and make him confess that he was fronting for Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi. But their best-laid plans collapsed soon enough.

CBI and the BJP were struck a double whammy a few months before the 2004 general elections. First, the Delhi high court judge JD Kapur exonerated all the public servants in the Bofors case and that included late Rajiv Gandhi. Once the public servants were free of taint there was nothing left in the case. After all, there is no corruption according to Indian corruption laws if the public servants have not been bribed. On March 31, 2004, the Malaysian courts refused to entertain CBI's request for the extradition of Quattrocchi to India. The CBI, for all its bluster, just could not muster enough proof to satisfy the sceptical Malaysian judges.

The end to the Bofors case was near, but no one was willing to perform its last rites, least of all BJP and its leader Arun Jaitley, whose initiation into national politics was closely linked to the investigation into the Bofors gun deal. This was the reason that the BJP leadership was reluctant to make public how they were botching up the case in their desperation to bail out their friends. 'They were keeping the Bofors alive to ensure that Sonia Gandhi remains on the defensive. After the Congress came to power, it was expected to bury the case. Who is bothered about getting to the truth,' claimed a senior political observer.

Even the CBI had a vested interest in keeping the case alive. Many of its officers used this as an excuse to go on pointless trips abroad and run up large travel bills on the pretext of consulting lawyers, delivering packets that could be sent through post, and other mundane errands. They messed up the case from the very beginning by attaching illegible documents to the letters rogatory send to the Swiss cantonal court. At least on one occasion they were asked to go back to India and get another set. On one occasion they did not have the right translation. At different stages the investigation was either sabotaged or not done properly.

The net outcome of this 18-year-old saga has cost the state exchequer Rs 250 crore in chasing a scandal involving Rs 64 crores. A large part of this expenditure has been fees to lawyers like Jaitley and Soli Sorabjee and scores of trips to different parts of the world.

So much money spent, and nothing to show. That apart, the badly-handled case has left the general impression that in India justice can be subverted through the influence of hard currency flaunted by arms dealers. Courts, government agencies, political parties and the media all come out looking poor in this unedifying saga that stretched to nearly two decades.

Despite the brouhaha that the BJP is creating on the manner in which this government has allowed the Italian businessman clean up his accounts, this was something waiting to happen. The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was in power for six years, but they just did not do enough. Or were they not interested?

As mentioned, the seed of this move was sown when the BJP-led government was in power. Insiders in the government bear testimony as to how the BJP leaders strenuously tried to save the Hindujas from the Bofors rap. Vajpayee and Advani, did not care to conceal that they enjoyed a special relationship with these Sindhi businessmen. Both leaders showed warmth towards the Hindujas, knowing fully well that they were accused in the Bofors case. A former employee of the group was given a job in the prime minister's office to look after the group's interest. In a recent interview to a TV channel, the Hindujas openly claimed that they had done more for Advani than they had done for any other politician. It does not matter whether they were actually involved in the corruption scandal or not, but the fact that they were accused in the case and quite close to the political leadership sent an important message to the CBI top brass. If Hindujas were likely to breathe easy then there was no reason why Quattrocchi should not avail of similar succour. It was a matter of time that Quattrocchi's high-powered battery of lawyers latched on to the transformed political and judicial environment and demand similar relief. They were emboldened to carry out this de-freezing operation by the simple fact that no one made any noise about the de-freezing of the accounts of Hindujas and others.

The CBI under the stewardship of the new director, Vijay Shankar, has shown rare courage in owning up to the crucial fact that his agency did not have the evidence to link Quattrocchi's money in his account with the Bofors kickbacks. This important admission helped in saving the face of the government. Shankar, who has resolved to work together with the government, by this act, would create a precedent where the agency would have to take a call on all those cases that are probed endlessly.