The Dusty Gun Trail

The Hindujas finally present themselves for questioning, but will it help the case go ahead?

Updated on: 7 February 2024 7:25 pm

The Dusty Gun Trail

Documents received from Swiss authorities in December 1999 revealed that nine payments aggregating Swedish Kroner (sek) 80,797,709 (about Rs 24 crore at the '86 rates) were made by AB Bofors in three different banks in Switzerland in the name of McIntyre Corpn. This is a company opened on May 30, 1986, by Jurg W. Vogel which had listed P.P. Hinduja as their client, a fact confirmed by PP. The names of these banks are the same as mentioned in the report of the Swedish National Audit Bureau (snab) as well as in Bofors correspondence. The codes are also the same as disclosed by snab. The payment of this amount has been disclosed by Bofors officials in meetings with Indian officials.

Initially, AB Bofors misled the Indian government on the name of the company to which the payments were made. The payments, it said, were made to M/s Moresco/Moineau SA, a Swiss company. But documents from Switzerland have established that the payments were received by M/s McIntyre Corp. The names of directors of M/s Moineau SA, as disclosed by Bofors, were J.P. Esbino, M. Biggs and M. Estribi, which are however, the same as the directors of McIntyre corp.

It has been established through documents provided by Swiss banks that the payments received in the codenamed accounts of M/s McIntyre during May to July 1986 related to the amount paid by the government of India.

Documents prove that a commission of 3 per cent of the total deal was paid to the coded accounts as commission in a gun deal which was not supposed to have any middlemen.