Central Bureau of Investigation
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will soon issue a judicial request to the United States asking private investigator Michael Harshman to provide information on the Bofors case. This information has been provided by officials. Harshman said he wanted to share necessary details with Indian agencies about the Rs 64-crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s. The central agency also apprised the special court of the development, which is hearing a petition from the CBI seeking further investigation into the case.
Officials said the process of sending a letter of inquiry (LR) began in October this year and took about 90 days to issue a formal request to the United States for information about further investigations into the alleged bribery case. A letter rogatory is a written request from a court in one country to a court in another country for assistance in the investigation or prosecution of a criminal case.
In 2004, the Delhi High Court acquitted former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. A year later, the court dismissed all charges against the remaining defendants in the politically sensitive case, including the Hinduja brothers. Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the middleman in the case, was acquitted by a court in 2011, leading the CBI to withdraw its charges against him.
In this case, the Congress government in the 1980s signed an agreement with the Swedish company Bofors in which it was alleged that a bribe of Rs 64 crore was taken in the supply deal of 400 howitzers worth Rs 1,437 crore. These howitzers played an important role in India’s victory in the Kargil War. The case was closed in 2011.
What did Harshman claim?
At the same time, Harshman, the head of Fairfax Group, came to India in 2017 to attend a private detective conference. During his stay, he appeared at various forums claiming that the Congress government was hampering the investigation into the scam and said he was ready to share details with the CBI. The CBI took note of his claims in multiple interviews and announced in 2017 that it would investigate the case following due process.
India’s Central Bureau of Investigation informed the special court that it plans to reopen the investigation after Harshman disclosed the matter. The CBI had earlier sent letters and reminders to US officials on November 8, 2023, December 21, 2023, May 13, 2024 and August 14, 2024, but did not receive any information. To that end, U.S. officials have asked for more time.
The CBI registered the case in 1990
Central agencies have now taken the path of LR. Accordingly, the US court will issue a formal information request to the relevant US authorities, subject to approval by the Indian government. The case was registered by the CBI in 1990, three years after a Swedish radio station accused Indian politicians and defense officials of taking bribes to win the Bofors deal. The allegations caused a major scandal for the Rajiv Gandhi government and were used by rival political parties to attack the Congress.
