Bofors Case: Cbi To Seek Details From Swiss Authorities

IN A bid to identify the end beneficiaries of pay-offs in the Rs 1,437-crore Bofors gun deal, CBI will seek some clarifications from the Swiss authorities on the final set of bank documents received by it.

"We need some more clarifications on certain open-ended bank documents which are not complete" and the agency will be approaching the Swiss authorities asking for some more information, CBI director R.K. Raghavan told PTI here today. Asked whether the investigating agency was expecting some more papers relating to the 155-mm Howitzer deal case from abroad, he said, "Papers will keep coming. Whatever we want, most of it has come."

 

Regarding the response from the Hinduja brothers, based in London and Geneva, to CBI letters seeking their cooperation, Mr Raghavan said, "They want us to go there. But we have to check whether we can go there or they will have to come here."

The CBI recently sent two letters to the Hindujas asking them to come to India to assist in the investigation but they expressed their inability to do so while denying their involvement in the gun deal. A third letter to them is on its way.

Dismissing allegations that the CBI was slow, Mr Raghavan said the agency was operating against many odds.

"You must understand the difficulties under which we operate. In Bofors itself, some governments have not cooperated."

The Interpol has its limitations "but we keep the pressure on," he said referring to a high-level team of officials deputed by the investigating agency to Kuala Lumpur last month to explore the possibility of securing the extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi to India.

"We have made a strong case for his extradition and I am hopeful of getting cooperation from the Malaysian authorities," he said.

The CBI has sent letters rogatory to nearly 10 countries through which the kick-backs may have passed in a bid to trace the identities of those who received pay-offs.