Need a detailed information....
2007-02-27 21:52:47 · 4 answers · asked by riya 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Politics
The Bofors Scandal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s; the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were accused of receiving kickbacks from Bofors AB for winning a bid to supply India's 155 mm field howitzer. The scale of the corruption was far worse than any that India had seen before, and directly led to the defeat of Gandhi's ruling Indian National Congress party in the November 1989 general elections.
The case came to light during Vishwanath Pratap Singh's tenure as defence minister, and was fueled by very sharp investigative journalism by Chitra Subramaniam of the newspapers The Hindu and Indian Express.
The name of the middleman associated with the scandal was Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who represented the petrochemicals firm Snamprogetti. Quattrocchi was close to the family of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and emerged as a powerful broker in the '80s between big business and the Indian government.
Even while the case was being investigated, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991.
In 1997, the Swiss banks released some 500 documents after years of legal wrangling and the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a case against Quattrocchi, Win Chadha, also naming Rajiv Gandhi, the defence secretary and a number of others. Several attempts to extradite Quattrocchi failed.
Meanwhile February 5, 2004 the Delhi High Court quashed the charges of bribery against Rajiv Gandhi and others, but the case is still being tried on charges of cheating, causing wrongful loss to the Government, etc. Win Chadha also passed away.
On May 31, 2005, the High court of Delhi dismissed the Bofors case allegations against the British business brothers, Shrichand, Gopichand and Prakash Hinduja.
On January 11, 2006 the high Court in London ordered the defreezing of the two British bank accounts of Ottavio Quattrocchi on the grounds of insufficient evidence to link these accounts to the Bofors payoff. The two accounts, containing € 3 million and $1 million, had been frozen in 2003 by a high court order by request of the Indian government (when the (now) opposition party BJP was in power). On January 16, the Indian Supreme Court directed the Indian government to ensure that Ottavio Quattrocchi did not withdraw money from the two bank accounts in London. The CBI (Central Bureau Of Investigation), the Indian Federal law enforcement agency, on January 23, 2006 admitted that roughly Rs 21 crore, about USD $4.6 million, in the two accounts have already been withdrawn. The British Government released the funds based on a request by the Indian Government.
However, on January 16, 2006, CBI claimed in an affidavit filed before the Supreme court that they were still pursuing extradition orders for Quattrocchi.
Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina on the 6th of Febuary 2007 (according to a report on The Times of India dated 24/02/07). He faces an Interpol red corner notice, but there is no extradition treaty between India and Argentina.
February 26: Quattrocchi has been released by Argentinian police. However, his passport has been impounded and he is not allowed to leave the country.
2007-02-28 17:14:51 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You will have to go into the archives of News papers of the time when VP singh was the prime minister to get the full detailed story. Quttarrocci is the man who collected the midle man commission for gandhis
Bofors is a Gun manufacturing firm in sweden.Our army purchasd those GunsDo not worry about him he will never stand a trial in India.Our cBI is meticulously helping him to escape
2007-02-28 20:14:50 · answer #2 · answered by Brahmanda 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Middlemen grabbed commission in purchase of weapons for Indian Military.
2007-02-28 07:35:33 · answer #3 · answered by Expression 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Start reading newspapers or watching tv or hear radio for news..............
2007-02-28 06:21:14 · answer #4 · answered by Agyanee 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋