Bofors scam’s alleged kingpin and Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, whom India could not get extradited to face trial in the pay offs case despite spending a whopping Rs 250 crore over 20 years on the process, has died in Milan. Reports say 74-year-old Quattrocchi, who was being sought by India until 2009, died of a heart attack in Milan on Friday night.
In 1986, a contract was signed between the Indian Government and Swedish arms company AB Bofors for supply of over four hundred 155 mm howitzer field guns. A year later, news broke that Bofors had allegedly paid kickbacks worth Rs 64 crore to top Indian politicians and officials to bag the deal.
The Rs 1,500-crore Bofor’s scam and Quattrocchi’s proximity to the Gandhi family are said to be the main reasons for the Congress’ electoral defeat in the 1989 general elections. But Quattrocchi fled India on July 29-30, 1993 before he could be arrested. Opposition parties have always alleged his exit was facilitated by the powers that be.
It was only in 1999 when the BJP-led NDA was in power that the CBI filed a charge sheet against him. The charges against Quattrocchi included serving as a conduit for bribes. Others named in the CBI case included Quattrocchi’s wife, Maria, and Win Chadha, a middleman.
However, the process to extradite Quattrocchi was given a legal burial on March, 4, 2011, with a Delhi court discharging the Italian businessman from the Bofors pay offs case.
“The very question which stares us at our faces is whether it is justified for the Government and the CBI to continue to spend on the extradition of ‘Q’, which may or may not ultimately happen during his lifetime,” Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Vinod Yadav said allowing the CBI plea to withdraw the case against the fugitive Italian.
The judge’s observations turned true. Quattrocchi, who fled India on July 29-30, 1993 just before the CBI could get to him, could not be extradited in his lifetime.
Incidentally, against the alleged kickback of Rs 64 crore Quattrocchi received, the CBI had by 2005 already spent around Rs 250 crore on the investigation. The BJP has been targeting the Congress for allegedly protecting Quattrocchi.
The CBI had, in October 2009, sought permission of the court to withdraw the case against Quattrocchi, saying that his continued prosecution was “unjustified” in the light of various factors including the agency’s failed attempts to extradite him.
All the other accused (like Win Chadha or Martin Ardbo of Bofors) have either died or proceedings against them (like the Hinduja brothers) had been quashed by the Delhi High Court. It was the mention of ‘Q’ in Ardbo’s personal diary that was later conclusively established to be as Quattrocchi.
In April this year, Defence Minister AK Antony made it clear in the Parliament, the Congress-led UPA Government does not plan to launch any fresh probe into the Bofors gun deal and Quattrocchi stands “discharged” as he could not be extradited even after 20 years of registration of the case. India’s efforts to get Quattrocchi extradited from Malaysia and Argentina too did not succeed.
As news of the death of the Italian businessman spread, a war of words broke out between the BJP and the Congress.
Reacting to the news, the Congress said Quattrocchi was a “ghost” created by the BJP and slammed the Opposition for seeking to drag his name to “besmirch” the party and the Gandhi family.
Party leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi said Quattrocchi was a “ghost” created by BJP and that charges against him had been quashed during NDA rule.
“I don’t understand why Congress should react to the death of somebody who has been a ghost created by the BJP. Somebody has died, his family deserves condolences,” he told NDTV.
Singhvi said it was in 2004 during BJP-led rule that the Delhi High Court had quashed the charges against Quattrocchi and the Government of the day had not filed any appeal against that ruling.
“...From 1998 to 2004, BJP tried to tom tom this thing during elections and lost this issue in at least three or four elections. They were unable to do anything to prove complicity in this crime,” he said.
“But as far as besmirching of the political system is concerned...Of the Gandhi family, of Congress is concerned, this is very wrong,” he added.
BJP leader Prakash Javadekar, however, dismissed Singhvi’s charges saying the ghost was created because Congress was “hosting” him.
“...The ghost was not created by BJP but by VP Singh and if we had created the ghost, it is because you were hosting it,” he said reacting to Quattrocchi’s death.