Lawyers to petition Supreme Court to take over Bofors investigation

George Iype in New Delhi

Some of India's top lawyers are planning to file a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court to prevent any political interference in the investigation of the multi-million dollar Bofors gun deal case.

Led by eminent Supreme Court lawyers Soli Sorabjee, Pran Nath Lekhi, Shanti Bhushan and Anil Divan, the petition will ask the apex court to monitor the Central Bureau of Investigation's probe into the Bofors documents which the Swiss authorities handed over to the Indian government on January 21.

"We feel the Bofors case will be more transparent if it is put under judicial supervision," Lekhi told Rediff On The NeT.

"The Bofors scandal is a synonym for political corruption of the highest order in India and we fear that there will be attempts to cover up the names of the top people involved in the scam," the lawyer added.

If the Supreme Court lawyers's efforts succeed, Bofors will join the JMM payoffs case, the hawala case and the Bihar animal fodder scam case being monitored by the court.

The senior lawyers held a discussion last week on the method of filing the public interest litigation. It is likely the petition will be filed under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI --which has constituted a special investigation team to decipher the Swiss bank documents relating to alleged bribes paid in the $ 1.3 billion howitzer gun deal -- has set itself a deadline -- April 30 -- to complete its investigation.

If the documents reveal that bribes were paid to some Indian public servants, experts say the case will be tried under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Many fear since the political ramifications of the Bofors case may undermine the CBI's investigation.

"There is no guarantee that the government or the CBI will not suppress facts relating to the Bofors papers. So we plan to move a petition as the case involves public morality and corruption," says Anil Divan, the public interest lawyer whom the Supreme Court appointed amicus curiae in the Jain hawala case.

"It is a golden chance for the CBI to grill the wheeler-dealers in the Bofors kickbacks case. But we fear political pressure could scuttle that chance," Divan told Rediff On The NeT adding that "Indians have better faith in the judicial scrutiny of Bofors papers rather than government scrutiny."