At last, final Bofors papers arrive

The Swiss courts had cleared the release of documents to India in January 1993 but it took almost six years for the final appeal to be dispensed with. On hearing the news of the transfer of the final batch of Bofors papers, a relieved CBI Chief R K Raghavan told The Indian Express: 8220;The next step will be taken after we have scrutinized the documents. The CBI is now making all arrangements to pick them up from Switzerland.8221;

But a word of cautioncame promptly from CBI8217;s former director Joginder Singh who8211;in a blaze of publicity8211;had collected the first batch of 500 documents in Bern. The documents showed that the the scam-tainted money had moved from the coded bank accounts to tax havens within 48 hours, resulting in the CBI filing another round of Letters Rogatory. Said Singh: 8220;This the transfer of the final batch of documents may not be the end of the battle for the CBI but the beginning of another paper chase. The Bofors case will not be clinched till the end-users of the kickbacks are exposed.8221;

According to an MEA spokesman, the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police 8220;have confirmed to us that the appeal to prevent the transfer of the documents to India has been rejected as there was no merit in it.8221;

The spokesman added that the 8220;case of the appellants was meant only to delay the criminal investigation being carried out by the Indian authorities.8221;

A press release from the Federal Department of Justice and Police FDJPtoday in Bern said that an appeal made against the order to hand over the documents to the Indian authorities was made on August 30.

The Swiss, however, did not name the petitioners who sought to waive the transfer of the documents. Only that in the opinion of the petitioners, such cooperation could 8220;compromise the sovereignty, public order and other essential interests of Switzerland8230;8221;

8220;The authors of the request,8221; the Swiss release added, 8220;were unable to bring forth either concrete proof or clues to back their claims.8221; It also pointed out that both the FDJP and the Swiss Federal Court had noted that the approach of the petitioners appeared to be to 8220;delay the Indian authorities8217; criminal investigation.8221;

The FDJP also made it clear that it was not getting into the 8220;pertinence of charges8221; held against the petitioners in the context of the criminal proceedings. 8220;It is up to the Indian authorities to throw light on that matter,8221;it added.

While CBI officials sat in conference till late inthe evening discussing the imminent windfall, in political circles the release of the documents was seen as a litmus test for the BJP Government to deal with the crucial Hinduja factor in the case.

While the official Government release did not name the appellants, the fact that it was the powerful Hinduja brothers who had been assiduously blocking their transfer is well known. Most importantly, the development in Bern came just two months after the CBI filed its first chargesheet in the case8211;chargesheeting, among others, Ottavio Quattrocchi. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had also been named as an accused.

The CBI8217;s chargesheet had stopped short of naming the Hindujas as accused and stated that the Hinduja brothers 8220;are believed to be behind the secret coded accounts in the name of Pitco/ Morensco/ Moineao and AE services,8221; and that the final set of documents was awaited. The CBI also had said that supplementary chargesheets would be filed if necessary.