The Congress found itself in the line of fire after a revelation that the CBI has withdrawn a 12-year-old Interpol Red Corner notice against Ottavio Quattrocchi.
The Congress on Tuesday found itself in the line of fire in the wake of the revelation that the CBI has withdrawn a 12-year-old Interpol Red Corner notice against Italian businessmen Ottavio Quattrocchi on the advice of attorney general Milon Banerjee. Quattrocchi is one of the key accused in the 1987 Bofors gun payoffs scam.
The revelation, which has come during the general election, has put the party in a spot with its political rivals, including the BJP and the Left, not missing the opportunity to accuse the Manmohan Singh government of influencing the CBI to let Quattrocchi off the hook.
The CBI, however, rubbished allegations of a cover-up. “The case has been under trial in the courts since 1999. The CBI has taken action on the basis of legal advice of the highest order. We will inform the competent court on the next date of hearing (April 30, 2009), said agency spokesman Harsh Bahal.
The Congress, too, tried to defend itself, with party leader and Union law minister HR Bhardwaj calling the allegations “politically motivated”. “The government has no role in the judicial process,” he said.
BJP’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani said in the last five years, important institutions like the CBI have been misused for political purposes. “I blame prime minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,” he said. “There were efforts to whitewash the [Bofors] issue. When Narasimha Rao was the prime minister, Quattrocchi, who was believed to be close to Sonia Gandhi, was allowed to leave the country,” Advani said.
The BJP leader said though the Italian businessman was arrested in Argentina, he managed to get bail and “his accounts in London were defreezed and the matter was brushed under the carpet”. “This [clean chit] will be the last nail in the coffin of the judicial process in respect of the Bofors scandal,” said Advani, on the last day of campaigning in Gandhinagar.
The CPI(M), too, said the withdrawal of the Interpol notice was an attempt by the Manmohan Singh government to bury the Bofors case. “Coming in the wake of the failure to successfully prosecute all those involved in the [Bofors] bribery case, it is evident that as long as there is a Congress-led government in office, the subversion of justice will continue,” said a strongly worded statement issued by the party.
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