Author: Statesman News Service
Publication: The Statesman
Date: November 15, 2002
There was a "secret design" by former
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Mr SK Bhatnagar, then defence secretary,
to ensure that AB Bofors bagged the multi-crore gun deal by abusing their
official position, the special CBI judge observed today. Mr Prem Kumar's
order on framing charges in the Bofors case noted that Rajiv Gandhi's post-contract
conduct showed that "a massive cover-up operation was launched".
The judge made the scathing remark
in a 176-page order pronounced in open court on framing of charges against
the three Hinduja brothers and the Swedish gun manufacturer, AB Bofors,
on counts of criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption. The court said
that though there was no legal requirement to give a "speaking order,"
the Bofors case was a "unique case" involving serious allegations of abuse
of position by high public servants in a deal having international ramifications.
In course of evaluating the points
raised by counsel for the Hindujas and Bofors, the court discussed various
aspects of the deal, the role of key functionaries of the government, including
Rajiv Gandhi and the Joint Parliamentary Committee that set out to get
to the bottom of the scandal.
But JPC's object "seemed to be to
quell the political storm at that time and not to arrive at the whole truth.
Rather, constitution of the JPC and the manner in which enquiry was conducted
and its report seem to be part of the massive cover-up exercise after the
exposure of the scam by the media," the court said.
Describing the Bofors scandal as
a "case of deep-rooted conspiracy and political pay-offs and bristled with
all manner of complexities and complications", Mr Prem Kumar recalled Rajiv
Gandhi's statement in the Lok Sabha days after news of the scandal was
reported in the Indian media. Gandhi told the Lok Sabha that there were
no middlemen involved in the deal and if anyone gave the government any
evidence that this was not true, "we will take action and we will see that
nobody, however, high up is allowed to go free".
"How encouraging and bold!" the
court observed. "As if there is a ring of sincerity and the Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi is out to find the truth. Rajiv Gandhi was not naïve
and impetuous. He pretended to be a maverick. All this was, however, a
deliberate posturing and part of a well-conceived and pre-arranged plan
to apparently show the non-involvement of middlemen/agents in the deal
and to achieve the oblique purpose by direct negotiations on the one hand,
and to have secret middlemen on the other".
The order pointed that the move
by the then defence secretary to call representatives of the four competing
firms and tell them that the government would not allow Indian agents was
taken at the instance of Rajiv Gandhi.
"Win Chadha was initially perceived
to be a potential rival. His continuance as agent would make it difficult
to introduce close confidant of Rajiv Gandhi like Ottavio Quattrocchi and
to receive handsome commission. However, later a way out had been found,"
the order said.
As for claims that Bofors was as
good a gun as its competition, Sofma, the court observed that material
collected by the CBI suggested that prima facie, "although Sofma was cheaper
and better gun and gun system, the contract still went to Bofors".
