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Bofors investigation: CBI team leaves for Channel Islands

A Central Bureau of Investigation team left for the Channel Islands for further investigations into the Bofors case, allegedly involving kickbacks of Rs 640 million to clear the 1986 gun deal with the Swedish firm.

Most of the commissions were allegedly deposited in secret Swiss bank accounts, but was later transferred to various tax havens, including the Channel Islands.

The CBI has already named five people -- controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife Maria, former Bofors agent Win Chadha, his late wife Kanta and his son Harsh -- as beneficiaries of the kickbacks, on the basis of the Swiss bank documents brought from Berne in January last year.

The last set of Swiss bank documents relating to the howitzer deal is still awaited as the unidentified account holder had challenged the move to hand over these to India in a Swiss court.

The CBI said today that it did not normally disclose the foreign visits of its investigating teams ''as it makes the task difficult and risky.'' But it had become necessary as a section of media had ''raised a controversy in this regard.''

EARLIER REPORTS:
The Bofors scandal

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