WHAT exactly is Arun Nehrus involvement in the Bofors kickbacks? No one will confirm, but top CBI sources say that years after his role in the deal has been debated, it seems that the hens are finally coming home to roost. Last fort-night, Arun Nehru was served summons: not an easy task if you have left for personal work to the US on the same day CBI chief Joginder Singh was returning with the 500 pages of Bofors dynamite from Switzerland.
Sources say Arun Nehru s interrogation has been cleared politically. According to the C B I, he played a crucial role in the egotiations at a critical point in 1985. Investigators say that Arun Nehru ran a parallel negotiation outside the ambit of the Defence Ministry with the Swedish embassy in New Delhi till July 1985. According to press reports, he liaised with the Swedes to keep his and Rajivs name out.
Arun Nehru, according to these accounts, wanted to keep Bofors agent Win Chaddha out of the negotiations at all costs and did not seem too fond of Quattrocchi either. While Arun Nehru has never been questioned, he is supposed to have maintained that his dealings with the Swedes had the Rajiv mandate of eliminating middlemen.
Arun Nehrus role in the Rajiv cabal also seems to have declined around the same time that AE Services made a bid for the multi-million dollar contract. C B I sources say official summons had been served on Arun Nehru and he is expected to come back to depose before them. His questioning could be interesting. Why did he want his and Rajivs name out of the picture? Did he tell the Swedes about the political fixing that would be vital to clinch the deal? Sources indicate that Arun Nehru s interrogation would be vital maybe even open up a new strand of investigation.
