CBI files Bofors papers
Tribune News Service and agencies

NEW DELHI, Dec 20 — The final set of the Swiss Bank papers along with other documents relating to Rs 64-crore Bofors gun deal payoff case were placed by the CBI before a Delhi court today and the agency sought permission to retain them for further investigation.

These papers, brought to India by officials of the CBI yesterday, were presented in a sealed cover before District Judge M.A. Khan as the judge trying the Bofors case was on leave.

The judge said: “There is no urgency. The application seeking to retain the documents be put up before Special Judge Ajit Bharihoke on January’’.

The third and final set of documents numbering D-1 to D-71 and a letter dated August 31, 1999 from a Geneva court directing the Swiss federal office at Berne to give the papers to the Indian agency were brought to the court by the CBI officials.

The documents were brought after last ditch efforts by appellants to prevent the transfer of the papers to India failed.

The agency told the court that these documents were obtained as a sequel to the letters rogatory issued by then Special Judge R.K. Jain on February 7, 1990. The first and second set of documents were received in December 1990 and in January 1997, respectively, it said.

Meanwhile, Dubai-based businessman Win Chadha, accused of receiving over $ 27 million as kickback in the gun deal, today moved the court for recalling of the non-bailable arrest warrant issued against him on the ground that the CBI had misrepresented facts on his refusal to answer summons.

His application would also be taken up on January 3 along with the CBI application.

The CBI said scrutiny of these documents was expected to take about two weeks and the additional chargesheet would be filed depending on what they revealed.

The documents were handed over to the Indian authorities at Berne on Wednesday after the Geneva court judge P Perrandin wrote a letter in this regard to the federal office for police matters on August 31.

The handing over of documents to India was facilitated after the Swiss Federal Department of Justice and Police confirmed that the appeal to prevent the transfer of these documents had been rejected. However, it is not yet clear as to who was trying to block the transfer of the documents.

The agency had on October 22 chargesheeted Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, former Defence Secretary S. K. Bhatnagar, Win Chadha, former Bofors chief Martin Ardbo and AB Bofors now renamed as Celsius, for their alleged role in the Rs 1,437-crore gun deal in March 1986.

The accused had been charged under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating) of the IPC under various other provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI had informed the court earlier that it was also probing the role of Hinduja brothers — G. P. Hinduja, Prakash Hinduja and Srichand Hinduja — and others, and had sent letters rogatory to Switzerland, Sweden, Panama, Luxembourg, Bahama, Jordan, Liechtenstein and Austria in this regard.

Meanwhile, the BJP today asked Ottavio Quattrocchi to disclose receipts of amount in his bank account if he claimed to be not involved in the deal.

Reacting to Quattrocchi’s statement to this effect, party spokesman M. Venkaiah Naidu said if he was innocent then he should make public the details of bank account, source of money and reasons for receipts.