'The Last Nail In The Coffin Of The Judicial Process'

I have seen in today’s Indian Express the lead report titled Inlast days of Congress-led government, Ottavio Quattrocchi is off CBI’s wantedlist. It states that the "Attorney General calls Red Corner Notice againstItalian businessman an ‘embarrassment’, says ‘cannot remain in forceforever’."

This is the latest in a long series of the UPA government’s shameful actsof misuse of governmental institutions, CBI in particular, for crass partisanends. Everybody knows that the Bofors scam has been the most political explosivecorruption scandal in independent India’s history. In 1989, it led to thedownfall of Rajiv Gandhi’s government, which was voted out in spite of winninga massive majority in Parliament in 1984.

Ever since the Bofors scam surfaced in April 1987, the Congress party hasdone everything to prevent the truth from coming out. Under pressure from 10Janpath, the government of P.V. Narasimha Rao allowed Quattrocchi to flee India.However, the most brazen acts of subversion of justice were seen in the tenureof the UPA government. It first allowed de-freezing the bank account ofQuattrocchi, the Italian middleman who is the principal accused in the scandaland one known for his proximity to Sonia Gandhi’s family and hence to 10Janpath. It later allowed him to go scot-free after having been arrested inArgentina. The last nail in the coffin of the judicial process is the latestnews that the UPA government wants Quattrocchi’s name off the CBI’s"Wanted" list.

I condemn this decision of the UPA government in the strongest possibleterms. I hold Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress president Smt.Sonia Gandhi directly responsible for colluding in this conspiracy to bury thetruth about Bofors. It is obvious that he and his government have acted underinstructions from 10 Janpath. His silence over the past five years on thesystematic misuse of the CBI and the law ministry confirms his guilt. It alsoconfirms my assessment that he is a weak and unworthy Prime Minister who hasdevalued his high office by making it subservient to the diktats of 10 Janpath.

For this and other sins, the Congress party will be punished by theelectorate in the same way as in 1989.

In this context, I wish to make another important point. The BJP has pledged tobring back enormous Indian wealth illegally stashed away in secret Swiss bankaccounts and other tax havens. It is worth noting that the kickbacks paid in theBofors scandal were also deposited in secret Swiss bank accounts. Rattled by thehuge public support to the BJP’s initiative, some Congress leaders are nowsaying in muted voices that they too are attempting to bring this money back.However, the contrast between the BJP and Congress can be clearly seen in thediametrically opposite stands of the two parties on the Bofors issue. How canthe Congress leadership, which has allowed the main Bofors scamster to run awaywith crores of bribe money parked in a foreign bank, be trusted to bring backIndian wealth hoarded in tax havens abroad?