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Prabhu's exact words were 'the boss wants it', says Swraj Paul

The battle of words between former Union minister R Prabhu and London-based industrialist Swraj Paul has intensified, with the latter rebutting the Tamil Nadu politician's claim that he did not advocate Snamprogetti when the London-based businessman was planning to set up an industry in Uttar Pradesh in 1985.

Paul had, in his recently released book Beyond Boundaries: A Memoir, claimed that his licence to build a $ 300 million fertiliser plant was cancelled in 1988, when he refused to buy technology from Snamprogetti, then represented in India by Ottavio Quattocchi.

Prabhu, who was then fertiliser minister in the late Rajiv Gandhi cabinet, disputed this assertion, saying that the industrialist's claim was "totally false and misleading". Vincent George, who was then secretary to Rajiv Gandhi, had also got in on the act, saying that he had never contacted Paul, and that he only provided secretarial services.

Faced with this contradiction, Paul has stuck to his guns, and insists that Prabhu pressed him to buy equipment from Snamprogetti whose representative Quattrocchi, a key accused in the Bofors scam, was 'a great friend' of the Gandhis.

"Perhaps Prabhu and Quattrocchi had a deal," Paul said. On the possibility that his relationship with Congress president Sonia Gandhi could sour because of his statement, the industrialist said, "If the relationship becomes bad, so be it. I cannot tell lies in anticipation of that."

In the book, Paul has written that he went to see Rajiv Gandhi to bring to his notice that he was being pressed to buy inferior equipment at a premium from Snamprogetti. "He said I should buy the best and the cheapest, and ignore everything else." Paul also went on to assert in the book that, despite this assurance, "different signals reached me from elsewhere".

Now Paul suggests that probably George and Prabhu were working together on the present campaign against him. "Everybody knows that secretarial services include contacting people on behalf of the boss, so his explanation cannot be serious," he reacted. "It was Quattrocchi and Prabhu who urged me to buy Snamprogetti equipment despite my reservations. Both said the prime minister wanted it." Paul said Prabhu's exact words were: "The boss wants it."

According to Paul, there was no question of maligning Rajiv Gandhi. "It is Prabhu who is maligning Gandhi by using his name in this matter." Prabhu, he said, was also "anxious that I report to Gandhi that he was doing a great job as minister."

About Prabhu's statement that Paul had not even bought land for the project, the latter said, "One does not buy the land before you know what process to use, both go simultaneously."

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