WEF was 'misused' by Madhav Singh Solanki to scuttle Bofors probe in 1992

Even as Congress president Rahul Gandhi took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech at the World Economic Forum (WEF), some 26 years ago the then External Affairs Minister and senior Congress leader Madhav Singh Solanki had used this Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos to scuttle the probe into the multi-crore Bofors payoff scandal.

According to court documents, Solanki had attempted to mislead the Swiss authorities who were executing the Letters Rogatory sent by India to that country seeking assistance in the probe, and scuttle the investigations. Solanki, who visited Davos in 1992 to represent India at the WEF, allegedly met the Swiss foreign minister Rene Felber there and conveyed his reservations on the matter. According to a note submitted by the CBI, Solanki told Felber that inquiries conducted into the scam in India had failed to produce any result and that the request for mutual assistance was based on political considerations.

In his speech at the WEF, PM Modi had referred to the dangers posed due to inequality, asserting that "the biggest reason for fracture within the countries is inequality and disparity leading to divide and distrust". But Gandhi countered, asking him to tell Davos why 1% of India's population gets 73% of its wealth? He attached an Oxfam report triggering a storm of replies and retweets from his supporters and critics alike. The Congress chief quite conveniently forgot the Solanki episode – a minister trying to dislodge a probe under the cover of 'promoting' the India at a world forum.

Solanki had to resign from the Narasimha Rao cabinet in April 1992 after he reportedly admitted in Parliament that he had delivered a memorandum to the Swiss Minister. "Solanki was a Union Minister for External Affairs. In his capacity as minister, he was clothed with a duty to maintain and support judicial system of the country. Instead of extending support to judicial system, he tried to scuttle the judicial proceedings going on at the behest of this court," Special CBI judge R K Yadav said in 2006, while ordering the probe.

The CBI had in 2003 filed an application under Section 340 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the court alleging that the then minister had misused his official position and made an attempt to nullify a judicial order, seeking assistance from foreign authorities in collecting evidence in the infamous case.

Earlier CBI counsel U S Prasad and Naveen K Matta had submitted that a Letter Rogatory was sent by the court to "competent judicial authorities" in Switzerland in 1990, requesting collection of banking documents of alleged beneficiaries in the Bofors gun deal. "Solanki, in his one-on-one meeting with the Swiss minister gave a misleading memorandum stating that the Letter Rogatory had been challenged before the Indian courts and requested them to go slow in their probe," the counsel alleged. "The memorandum was given with an intention that Swiss authorities may form an erroneous impression and direct closure of further probe in the case," the court said.

Tales Of Scandal

• Solanki had to resign from the Narasimha Rao cabinet in April 1992 after he reportedly admitted in Parliament that he had delivered a memorandum to the Swiss Minister 
• CBI had in 2003 filed a plea under Section 340 of CrPC, alleging that the then minister had misused his position and made an attempt to nullify a judicial order