Vanishing Clues

IT was a familiar case of too little, too late. Last fortnight, when a two-member CBI team, comprising a superintendent of police and a legal advisor, reached the Channel Islands to probe the transfer of 50 million Swedish kroner (approximately Rs 26 crore) from Ottavio Quattrocchi’s AE Services account in Switzerland to the picturesque isles off the British coast, they found the bird had flown the coop. In other words investigators had reached the site of the crime, as has often happened in the Bofors saga, almost a decade after the incident took place.

 What the two members found confirmed what bank statements that came from Switzerland had indicated about a year ago. Fifty million Swedish kroner of the Bofors payoffs that went to AE Services, allegedly owned by close Gandhi family friend Ottavio Quattrocchi, had been deposited at a Credit Suisse branch in Zurich—from where it was moved to another Credit Suisse branch in Geneva on way to the Channel Islands. By the time the Indian investigators got there, the accounts had been moved to several ‘unknown’ destinations, the UK and Austria reportedly among them.

With letters rogatory, or letters of request, already sent to Panama, Liechenstein and Luxembourg, they are now in the process of identifying the names of recipients and bank accounts, the movement of monies through several continents and other related material.

But clearly, the rub lies elsewhere. During his tenure as CBI director, Joginder Singh drew up a provisional chargesheet that named amongst others Rajiv Gandhi as a ‘conspirator’. Others in that list include Quattrocchi, former Rajiv aides S.K. Bhatnagar and Gopi Arora, former Congress minister Madhavsinh Solanki and onetime Bofors representative Win Chadha and his wife.

The point is, can the government move on that chargesheet? Says a key official: "The BJP has made Bofors a big issue all these years. Even lately, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee has assured that all

papers will be brought out in the open. Now is their chance to do it. If the government sanctions the prosecution, the case will get a fresh lease of life." But that’s easier said than done. The first set of documents that arrived from Switzerland last year identified some dramatis personae. The second set of papers, according to sources, is still being contested in a Swiss magistrate’s court and the appellants in this case are reportedly the powerful Hinduja brothers, whose political clout far outstrips anything that political ideology can offer. "Their proximity to the BJP is well known," notes an official.

The problem is compounded by the fact that any forward movement in the case could well be a nasty mirage. Given the frailties of the legal system and the extent of the cover-up, filing a case against a political opponent—or even being seen to be doing so—can be a recipe for disaster. Witness Jayalalitha’s resurrection.

Experts are, however, unanimous on one thing. The next logical step would be to initiate proceedings to have Quattrocchi extradited from Malaysia. In March 1997, the CBI had already issued arrest warrants for the former Snamprogetti representative in India. But in a country where Quattrocchi enjoys enormous clout, including housing in the diplomatic compound right next to the Italian ambassador’s residence, getting him out would require a whole new government-to-government equation.

The Indian authorities also have to contend with the Swiss legal system. Well-placed sources say the appellants blocking the movement of bank documents in a magistrate’s court are unlikely to give up that easily. Even if the magistrate okays the transfer of papers to India, it is likely to be contested all over again in a cantonal court in Geneva. That is not all. Sources say the attitude of the Indian government has been recalcitrant to say the least. Unlike in the past, Indian authorities have offered little resistance to the appellants blocking the Bofors papers (see interview). Given all that is at stake for the appellants, they are bound to use the slightest political lapse to their advantage.

All of which points to a long drawn out investigation. For, in a political drama spanning more than a decade, Bofors is an issue everyone seems to be impatient with, but can do little to get on with.