Renewed Bofors Storm in Parliament

Some major developments—release of abducted MLA Jhina Hikaka by Maoists after 32 days in their captivity, the conviction and symbolic sentence of Pakistan PM Yusuf Reza Gilani by the country’s highest court, and India’s successful test-firing of its heaviest remote-sensing satellite RISAT 1—took place in the course of the day today.

But the most striking event of the day was the renewed Bofors storm in Parliament. The Opposition urged for a fresh probe into the allegation of Rs 60-crore kickbacks for conclusion of the deal while the Congress members insisted that the name of late Rajiv Gandhi, the former PM, having been cleared of the kickbacks’ charge, the issue needed to be buried once and for all.

The reason behind the Bofors issue resurfacing in the public domain was the identification of the Swedish ‘Deep Throat’ who had brought out the matter 25 years ago through his exchange of information with journalist Chitra Subramaniam-Duella, and his latest interview to Chitra carried in the hoot.org that has once again magnified the kickback episode. ‘Deep Throat’ was none other than former Swedish Police head Sten Lindstrom. He told Chitra:

There was no evidence that he (Rajiv Gandhi) had received any bribe. But he watched the massive cover-up in India and Sweden and did nothing. ... The evidence against Ottavio Quattrocchi was conclusive. Through a front company called AE Services, bribes paid by Bofors landed in Quattrocchi’s account which he subsequently cleaned out because India said there was no evidence linking him to the Bofors deal. Nobody in Sweden or Switzerland was allowed to interrogate him ...

... As the stories began to appear, (Martin) Ardbo (the Bofors Managing Director) knew what I knew. He had written in his notes that ... at no cost could the identity of Q (Quattrocchi) be revealed because of his closeness to R (Rajiv Gandhi). He had also mentioned a meeting between an AE Services official and a Gandhi trustee lawyer in Geneva. This was a political payment....

If one recalls the past, one can find the similarity of the above observations with what the founder of this journal wrote in these columns after the Rajiv-led Congress’ loss of power in the 1989 elections. Mainstream of December 2, 1989 carried the following in the Editor’s Notebook:

What has really damaged Rajiv in the Bofors scandal is the strong impression in the public mind that his government did little to unearth it, that it appeared to be more anxious to shield the culprits than to catch them, and so there must be something or somebody that Rajiv has been trying to save. A Prime Minister of the country can ill-afford to plead his helplessness in such a kickback scandal. To this measure, the charge of complicity has stuck.

And that charge of complicity has not been removed till date. If at all, it has been strengthened by Lindstrom’s latest interview to Chitra. Hence there is solid basis for a fresh probe into the whole affair to bring out the truth even after such a long span of 25 years. In the light of the ongoing mass upsurge against corruption the importance of the renewed Bofors storm in Parliament cannot be minimised.

April 26 S.C.