The Bofors scandal could well be back on the public agenda if the BJP has its way.
BJP members in the Sub-committee for Defence Matters of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee last week urged the CBI to reinvestigate the scandal, in which huge kickbacks were allegedly paid to several beneficiaries in the late 1980s in the purchase of the Swedish guns for the Army.
The suggestion to reopen the case came when the sub-committee examined the non-compliance with a three-decade-old CAG report on the scandal. CBI Director Alok Kumar Verma appeared before the committee on Thursday.
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However, those who have been involved in the CBI investigations say what is left is only a court battle and nothing much new to investigate.
Legal options
The CBI is now examining the legal options, especially the possibility of moving the apex court. The agency told the sub-committee that in 2005, it was denied permission to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against a Delhi High Court order, dismissing the case against the Hinduja brothers. The other accused included Ottavio Quattrocchi, a close friend of the Gandhi family who died in 2013.
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Quattrocchi was also able to withdraw 3 million pounds from his British accounts as the UPA government lifted the freeze on his accounts in London.
The committee members said the CBI investigation had several loopholes.