Journalist and author Chitra Subramaniam has demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) make public its findings from the "box of evidence" received from Switzerland regarding the Bofors payoffs. Subramaniam, author of 'Boforsgate: A Journalist's Pursuit of Truth', expressed concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the evidence, questioning who opened the box, when it was opened, and what it contained. She also raised doubts about the official narrative regarding the alleged bribe in the Bofors case, suggesting the sum of Rs 64 crore may not reflect the full extent of the corruption. Subramaniam also alleged that the CBI planted stories about Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan to derail the investigation and launched a political vendetta against the Bachchans. She recalled that Bachchan had come to her home and asked if she had seen his name. The CBI has recently requested assistance from the United States in the case, seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who claims to have crucial details about the scandal. The Bofors scandal, a major bribery case involving the Indian government and the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors in the 1980s, pertains to allegations of a Rs 64-crore bribe in a Rs 1,437-crore deal for the supply of 400 155mm field Howitzers.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a judicial request to the United States seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who has claimed to possess crucial details about the Rs 64-crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s. Hershman, the head of the Fairfax Group, had previously expressed his willingness to share information with Indian agencies, alleging that the investigation into the scam was derailed by the then Congress government. The CBI's request comes after previous attempts to obtain information from US authorities yielded no results. This move highlights the continued efforts to uncover the truth behind the decades-old scandal, which has had a significant impact on Indian politics.
Quattrocchi is wanted in the Bofors case for the last 14 years.
The extradition trial began four months after the Italian businessman was detained in Misiones province on February six while he was on his way to Brazil.
However, he has been asked not to leave the country.
A senior leader of the party said that the arrest of Quattrocchi could not have taken place without the express approval of Sonia Gandhi who may have decided to dump him as he was becoming a liability for her and her party.
Two days after the Centre decided to close the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors gun deal, an application was on Thursday moved in a Delhi Court seeking rejection of any closure report that may be filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The application said that CBI had the information that Quattrocchi was held in Argentina since Febraury 8 but it maintained a discreet silence even when a matter relating to him was heard before the apex Court on February 12.
Less than two months after he was detained at Iguazo International Airport, about 100 km in the Misiones province, on an Interpol Red Corner notice, Quattrocchi appeared before the judge in the first court in El Dorado.
A Delhi court on Friday accepted the Central Bureau of Investigation plea to shut the Bofors payoff case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. The verdict of the court comes as a relief for Quattrocchi, as the CBI will now withdraw its case against him.
The CBI had, in October 2009, sought permission of the court to withdraw the case against Quattrocchi, saying that his continued prosecution was "unjustified" in the light of various factors including the agency's failed attempts to extradite him.
Controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was a key figure in the Bofors payoffs scandal, has died in Milan following a stroke.
The Interpol on Wednesday said the red corner notice against the accused in the Bofors case Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was let off recently after being detained in Argentina, was still "operational".
Javedkar claimed that the Argentine court verdict was the result of the government's all-out effort to save and not nab Quattrocchi.
The 69-year-old businessman left this country for his home in Milan in his native Italy. His passport was returned by Argentinian authorities last week.
The court had earlier fixed May 17 as the next date of hearing but CBI's lawyer Miguel Almeyra requested for a change in view of his pre-occupation at courts in Buenos Aires.
A Delhi court on Tuesday reserved its order on a plea of Central Bureau of Investigation seeking withdrawal of criminal proceedings against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in more than two-decade-old Bofors pay off case.
Quattrocchi lived in India for several years as the representative of an Italian firm, Snam Progetti, in the 1980s. He was close to the Gandhi family and in 1999 was named one of the accused in the case regarding the Rs 64-crore pay-off for the supply of 155 mm Howitzer guns made by Bofors, for which a controversial deal was signed in 1986 when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday filed an application before a Delhi court seeking closure of the Bofors pay-off case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. In the plea filed before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja, the probe agency said all efforts to extradite Quattrocchi for facing the trial in India has failed.The agency opposed the plea of advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had filed an application in his personal capacity.
Advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had filed an application questioning government's effort in securing the foreign national's extradition from Argentina after he was detained on February 6, 2007, said the El Dorado court declined India's request as the original arrest order of 1997 by a court in New Delhi was not produced by the CBI. He was responding to the order passed by the Argentine court, the translated copy of which was provided to him by the Centre.
The Centre has told the Supreme Court that it has decided to withdraw the case against Italian businessmen Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was one of the main accused in the Bofors scandal.
Agrawal had filed the appeal against the May 31, 2005 judgement of the High Court after CBI had failed to approach the apex court in mandatory 90 days period.
India's top investigating agency says the Italian businessman, believed to be involved in the Rs 6.4 million Bofors payoff scam, is hiding in Italy.
A Bench headed by Justice C K Thakker also sought a response from the agency on a plea seeking the presence of Quattrocchi before the trial court in Delhi.
Training its guns on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Bofors pay-offs scandal, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded that he apologise for defending Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi. "Mr PM, you tried to give a clean chit to Quattrocchi," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters, adding this has been found to be false by an income tax tribunal which said that kickbacks of Rs 41 crore were paid to Quattrocchi and Win Chaddha.
With payoffs in Bofors gun deal under the spotlight again, a former Central Bureau of Investigation officer who supervised the case claimed that alleged hawala dealer SK Jain told the probe agency he and Ottavio Quattrocchi received kickbacks from projects routed through them including the howitzer deal.
Indian Ambassador to Argentina Parmathesh Rath said it was now for the Argentine government to see whether the papers were in order to carry forward the process.
Does the public, in this case our readers, you, really care about who Quattrocchi is? Has the Bofors scandal become one of those meaningless exercises with no end in sight?
Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily has backed the Centre's decision to drop the case against Ottavio Quattrocchi admitting that there was nothing left to do in the case.
The Italian businessman is one of the main accused in the Bofors payoff scam.
Sushma Swaraj packs in the punches against the Congress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's parliamentary body on Wednesday decided to rake up the Bofors pay-off issue in Parliament in the wake of fresh allegations that then prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi may have 'soft-pedalled' the probe to protect Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
The team is expected to present the request through diplomatic channels on Thursday, the CBI said.
The saffron party accused the Congress-led government of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation to save the Italian businessman and sought to know why the Congress and the government are continuously trying to help a person who has looted the country. "Is it because of his (Ottavio Quattrocchi's) relationship with the Sonia family? Congress should give a reply to the nation," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
Indian Ambassador to Argentina Pramathesh Rath said that the judge would give detailed reasons for the judgement on June 13.
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