New Delhi: The death of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, accused in the Bofors case, has led to a fresh round of political blame-game between the BJP and the Congress.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson Meenakashi Lekhi said the Bofors scandal was a classic case of how an investigative agency should not do its job. Referring to Quattrocchi, she said all those who were involved in alleged kickbacks in the Bofors case "have gone scot-free".
Quattrocchi died in the Italian city of Milan on Friday.
"That man can't tell tales. A 21-Bofors gun salute should be the order of the day," Lekhi said. She accused the Congress of allowing Quattrocchi to leave the country in 1993 and said it had not made sincere efforts to bring him back.
"They should check who helped him flee the country. The Congress government defroze his accounts," Lekhi told IANS. Congress spokesperson PC Chacko accused the BJP of raking up the Bofors issue even as Quattrocchi died a natural death and said such politicisation was "most unfortunate".
He said the government's stance in the Bofors case was known to the world. "We have taken whatever steps we could. We have not shown any soft corner towards Quattrocchi. What did the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government do? What steps did they take to bring him back," he said.
Chacko said the BJP makes Bofors an issue "only to abuse Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her family". He said extradition of an individual depends on factors such as extradition treaty between countries.
Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Mohan Singh said the Supreme Court had allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to withdraw its case against Quattrocchi in 2011. However, he said the CBI did not probe the case properly. The SP leader also alleged that Quattrocchi was "not deliberately brought back to the country".
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Nilotpal Basu said Quattrocchi's death would not make "any material difference" to the Bofors case. The CBI had registered a complaint in 1990 over alleged kickbacks in the $1.4 billion contract between the Indian government and Swedish arms company AB Bofors signed for supply of over 400 155-mm howitzers. The contract was signed in 1986.
The CBI managed to get red corner notice issues against Quattrocchi by the Interpol but he never came back to India to join investigations. The charge sheet that had Quattrocchi as an accused was filed in 1999. Attempts were made to extradite Quattrocchi from Malaysia in 2003 and from Argentina in 2007.
Two accounts of Quattrocchi in London banks containing three million euros and $1 million were defreezed after the CBI told Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), London, that it had not been able to link the money in two accounts of Quattrocchi with the Bofors kickbacks.
The Bofors bribery allegations had shaken Indian politics in the late 1980s and catapulted National Front leader VP Singh to power as leader of a coalition government. The Congress led by Rajiv Gandhi lost power in 1989 amid allegations of corruption. Delhi High Court had in 2004 cleared Rajiv Gandhi of involvement in the Bofors kickbacks scandal.
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