Bofors back like a bad penny

Like a bad penny, the controversy over Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors scam, just refuses to die down. But, the fresh developments in the midst of an election, has given the Opposition a stick to attack the government with and led to a fresh war of words between Opposition and Congress.

The Congress accused the Opposition of trying to resurrect the ghost of Bofors on the eve of yet another election. “How is it that the Bofors issue comes up during every election? Its become a habit with the BJP to flog a dead horse during every elections, but they will get nowhere,” said law minister HR Bhardwaj. His ministerial colleague Anand Sharma accused former law minister Arun Jaitley of weakening the case against the accused in Bofors. “He was the solicitor general in the VP Singh government, he was law minister in the Vajpayee government when the government botched up the case relating to Quattrocchi’s remand from Malaysia. Why did he not appeal against the Delhi high court judgement,” asked Anand Sharma.

The BJP alleged that the last-minute clean chit to the controversial Italian businessman was a clear indication of the Congress not coming back to power. “This ‘farewell gift to the nation-in-law’ shows that the UPA knows it is not coming back to power and like most despotic regimes, it is doing what it can to help friends before going,” BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said. An angry BJP demanded a probe into the working of the agency for the last five years.

The government protested its innocence, claiming it had no role to play in the move by the agency. “Last September, Interpol had asked the CBI to explain on what basis the notice was to be continued. The relevant information was sent to Interpol after consulting the attorney general. How does the government come into this,” asked law minister HR Bhardwaj.