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THE NATION:
BOFORS SCAM
The
End Of The Road
However,
the Hindujas' names escaped the 1999 list because of their vigorous appeals
in the Swiss cantonal courts, and even the federal court, against transmission
of details of their suspect accounts to the Indian authorities. Even after
the Swiss federal court, in its judgement of August 17, 1999, had dismissed
their appeals against the judgement of the cantonal court of Geneva, the
Hinduja brothers filed a petition before Ruth Metzler, federal councillor,
asking her to prevent the documents from going to India as that might
"injure the sovereignty, the public order or other essential interests
of Switzerland". Metzler dismissed the petition on December 15, 1999,
paving the way for the "Hinduja papers" to fall into CBI hands.
However, is it fair to conclude that the clout of the Hinduja empire at
London's New Zealand House, built through years of Godfather-style "olive-oil"
business, is at the road's end?
Doubtful.
On November 20, the date fixed by Judge Bharihoke for scrutiny of the
documents, the CBI will be faced with the uphill task of disproving the
Hindujas' contention that even though they might have taken payments from
Bofors, it had nothing to do with the gun deal. As S.P. Hinduja stated
on September 28, apparently in anticipation of the CBI chargesheet, "The
funds received have no relation to the gun contract." To counter
it, the CBI needs proof of end-use of the funds, to show that the money,
like every other sleaze penny, was siphoned into the recipient's active
accounts. To that end, the CBI has recently written to the Swiss judicial
authorities about end-use details. Says Harish Salve, solicitor-general
of India: "It is a legal requirement to pursue the end usage of a
conspiracy ... what is the best pecuniary evidence? It is money in your
pocket."
In respect
of the charges against Chadha and Quattrocchi, the Swiss provided elaborate
end-use details, tracing Quattrocchi's funds from the Channel Islands
to Switzerland and Austria, and the Chadha millions to tax havens as far
out as Leichtenstein, the Bahamas, Luxembourg and Jordan. The CBI has
sent separate LRs to these destinations and is waiting for responses.
Unlike these documents though, the Hinduja papers are silent about which
way the funds had dispersed before the Tulip, Lotus and Mont Blanc accounts
were frozen by the Indian LR in 1990. Nor do the papers give any clue
to specific invoices against which Bofors had made the payments, which
again is a deviation from the Swiss style of cooperation last year. The
CBI has, in its recent communication to the Swiss authorities, asked for
the invoices that show the context of transaction.
"But
for the cooperation of the Swiss government, and the country's courts,
the Bofors case would not have gone so far," says P.C. Sharma, special
director of CBI. Nevertheless, the bureau is keeping its fingers crossed.
It has written to the Swiss judicial authorities that the Hinduja statement
regarding their funds being unrelated to the gun deal runs contrary to
the findings of the Swiss courts. The letter has shown some result. S.P.
Hinduja's September 28 statement boasted that what "the Swiss authorities
have collected and are in the process of transmitting" to the CBI
in the Bofors payouts were unrelated to the Indian howitzer deal. Thanks
to the CBI's letter, Berne hasn't echoed the Hindujas yet.
The brothers
obviously anticipated the CBI's moves and so were in a hurry to give up
their Indian nationality. Earlier they had disregarded all three summonses
sent to them. For that matter, all the accused in the Bofors case are
past masters in stalling court appearances. Ardbo returned the summons
on grounds like he wouldn't read the note unless it was in Swedish. Quattrocchi
is holed up in Malaysia, a country with which India doesn't have an extradition
treaty. While former external affairs minister Madhavsinh Solanki is likely
to be charged soon, much will depend on the CBI's success in making the
Hindujas, the biggest players in the arms pay-off, face trial in person.
They managed to dodge the Indian court because in 10 of the 13 years since
the scam broke, the Congress drove the government from the front or the
back seat. With the party under whose rule the scam broke no longer in
the seat of power, the present government is better placed to bring the
elusive brothers to book.
Full
Text of CBI chargesheet
(All figures in Swedish kroner have been taken at current
SEK/Re exchange rate.)
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Relics
of old empires exist everywhere. Why can't the Mani Shankar Aiyars of
India let them be? asks INDIA TODAY Senior Editor Ravi Shankar in
