By
IOL South Asia Correspondent
New
Delhi, December 2 (IslamOnline) -The $300 million Bofors gun
purchase in 1986 from the Swedish company Bofors is known as one of
the major arms purchase scandals in India in which middlemen got
hefty kickbacks running into millions of dollars.
One
of the prime accused, Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrrocchi who
lives in Malaysia, was acquitted Monday, December 2, by a Malaysian
court, rejecting an Indian government plea for his extradition.
There
is no extradition treaty between India and Malaysia. However, the
rejection of the Indian plea came on the ground that the offences
elaborated in the requisition papers were insufficient, vague and
ambiguous.
Kualalumpur
sessions court judge Akhtar Tahir acquitted Quattrocchi without
conditions, ending all extradition-related proceedings pending in
the sessions court and the high court.
India
filed the extradition case two years ago. Whether India would choose
to appeal is not clear yet.
The
Bofors case has political overtones. Many see it as being used by
the present government to beat the opposition Congress Party. It was
during a Congress government at Center that the 155 mm howitzers
were purchased.
The
late Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister then. Quattrocchi, then
Snamprogetti representative in India, is said to be a relation of
Rajiv’ s Italian-born wife Sonia Gandhi. She is at present the
leader of opposition at the Center and president of the Congress
Party ruling 14 states.
For
those who see a political angle in the Bofors Case, the arrest of
Quattrocchi and his extradition to India would be used as points
scored against the Congress Party and Mrs Gandhi.
Last
month a New Delhi special court framed charges in the same case
against three Europe-based businessmen-Shrichand P Hinduja,
Gopichand P Hinduja and Prakashchand P Hinduja, for having received
kickbacks from Bofors to secure the deal with the government. The
Hinduja brothers made their money in Iran under the Shah and moved
to London after his downfall.
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Bofors gun in action
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The
Hindujas have since appealed. In another development, the Supreme
Court Monday, December 2, stayed the trial against the Hindujas.
Earlier on Friday, November 29, the court had recorded the grievance
of the Hinduja brothers that even though the Delhi high court
quashed the charge sheet against them, the trial was continuing.
Hinduja
brothers’ attorneys had told the special court that the deal was
cleared by the defence expert and then federal minister of state for
defense, Arun Singh. This was later confirmed by the then chief of
staff, Gen. Sunderji. Incidentally Arun Singh is now in the BJP good
books and hence there is no case against him.
The
gun muzzled its critics two years ago when it proved to be the most
efficient weapon in turning out Pakistani intruders from the
freezing heights of Kargil in Jammu and Kashmir.
Scams
like this are not new to India. Even the present defense minister,
George Fernandes, is under a shadow of doubt over purchase of
coffins for the army and for a more serious lapse in a fictitious
deal exposed in March 2001 by a news portal tehelka.com, which has
since been hounded out of business by government agencies for the
exposé . The defence minister resigned as a result but came back to
his post months later. The opposition has since been boycotting him
for continuing in his job despite the scams.
