After the Swedish Radio blew the whistle on the scandal in April 1987, theCBI was used (during Rajiv’s time) to pursue a sham investigation. Then whenthe Swedish Audit Bureau report showed the payments of large sums of money intoSwiss bank accounts of shady middlemen, a pliant JPC was used to give aridiculous report (which called these payoffs "winding up charges"). Thiswas soon blown apart by sections of the media and by our own CAG (oneinstitution which did not succumb) in 1989.
It was the Bofors scandal which ledto Rajiv’s defeat in the 1989 elections. During V.P. Singh’s brief tenure, aserious CBI investigation was initiated and the Swiss accounts were frozen. Thetenure of Rao’s government again saw foot dragging by the CBI, and theinfamous Solanki affair, where the minister was caught telling the Swissauthorities not to proceed with the matter.
And then came the two infamous orders ofthe Delhi High Court quashing the CBI FIR- first by Justice M.K. Chawla on apetition by a set up lawyer named H.S. Chowdhary, and then by Justices G.C.Mittal and Satpal on Win Chaddha’s petition. Both times, however, the SupremeCourt reversed the High Court orders with severe strictures.
Eventually, the Swiss bank documents came, showing that the accounts, in whichthe Bofors moneys were deposited, were owned by Quattrochi, the Hindujas and WinChaddha. But the CBI chargesheet was again quashed by Justice R.S. Sodhi of theDelhi High Court, this time on the ground, that the CVC’s approval for thechargesheet had not been taken! Again, the Supreme Court reversed it.
But in Feb2004, Justice J.D. Kapoor of the High Court quashed the charges related tocorruption, and was soon rewarded by the new Congress-led UPA government (thatassumed office in May 2004) by a plum post-retirement job. Though this judgement came towards the end of the NDA government’stenure, the CBI did not appeal this judgement in the Supreme Court (perhapsbecause of Vajpayee’s closeness to the Hindujas).
And then in May 2005,Justice Sodhi once more quashed the entire charge sheet against the Hindujas,this time on the ground that the Swiss bank documents were not originals, butonly certified photocopies! Again, the CBI (this time the Congress-led UPAgovernment) did not appeal this absurd judgement,despite the fact that the Swiss bank documents showing the Bofors accounts beingowned by Quattrochi and Hinduja had come after the Hindujas had lost appealsupto the Swiss Supreme Court, and the courts there were convinced that this was acase of corruption.
It was on the basis of these last two High Court judgements that B. Datta onbehalf of the Government of India, told the U.K. Crown Prosecution Service thatQuattrochi’s accounts be defrozen, since "there was no longer any reasonableprospect of the case against Mr. Quattrochi proceeding to trial". It is nowclear from the documents filed by the government in the Supreme Court, thatcontrary to the government’s claim, there was no query from the CrownProsecution Service and there was no issue of the linkage between Quattrochi’sUK accounts and the Bofors money.
Many now feel that the ghost of Bofors must be allowed to rest here -- some forthe reason that it has gone on long enough; others, because they feel that thereis no chance of the perpetrators of the crime being punished. But it we adoptthis attitude, we might as well repeal all our anti corruption laws, or at leastforget about prosecuting powerful people.
As things stand, there is hardly anychance of powerful people being convicted by the criminal justice system in thiscountry. But that is reason enough to drastically reform the system, rather thanaccept corruption as inevitable. If we do that, we sign the death warrant ofintegrity. Moreover, even in this corrupt system, it is theseBofors-like exposures, and the sporadic pursuit by some public spiritedcitizens, that have ensured that the corrupt have to spend sleepless nights intrying to get away. And they do pay politically. The public interest in Boforswhich has survived 19 years is proof enough of that. These, in my view areadequate reasons for not burying Bofors.
