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President gives nod for Solanki's trial in Bofors case

President K R Narayanan has given the sanction for the prosecution of former external affairs minister Madhavsinh Solanki in the Rs 640 million Bofors payoffs case.

The decision was taken on the basis of the government's recommendation containing legal advice, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesman said.

According to the Central Bureau of Investigation, which had sought his prosecution, Solanki had delivered a letter in 1992 to his then Swiss counterpart allegedly asking Berne to go slow on the Bofors investigation.

Admitting that he had delivered the letter, Solanki quit the Union Cabinet subsequently. He, however, refused to name the person who had asked him to hand over the letter.

The presidential sanction in the case comes within a week of the government's permission to prosecute former defence secretary S K Bhatnagar, also suspected to be involved in the Rs 14.36 billion Howitzer gun deal with A B Bofors of Sweden.

The agreement was signed in 1986 when late Rajiv Gandhi was prime minister.

The CBI hopes to file its first chargesheet by next week.

The CBI's request regarding Solanki's prosecution was forwarded to the President by the Prime Minister's Office about a month ago.

Now that sanction has been obtained from the President and the government, the CBI hopes to file its first chargesheet by next week.

Bureau sources said the chargesheet, which was already being finalised would be modified in the light of the green signal from Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Besides Solanki and Bhatnagar, all the five named by the CBI as beneficiaries of the payoffs would figure in the chargesheet as accused, the sources said.

The five are controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife Maria, former Bofors agent in India Win Chadha, his son Harsh and late wife Kanta.

They were named as beneficiaries after scrutiny of the first set of secret Swiss bank documents relating to the payoffs. The documents were obtained by the CBI in January 1997 after a decade long legal battle in Swiss courts.

The cbi had sought sanction to prosecute former officials and Solanki in the case as far back in May 1997.

The bureau's request on Solanki was forwarded to the President by the Prime Minister's Office about a month ago.

The CBI would file further chargesheets in the case after getting the second and last set of Swiss bank documents and sanction to prosecute some more officials, including Gopi Arora who was Officer on Special Duty in the PMO when the deal was finalised.

However, immediately after filing the first chargesheet the CBI is likely to redouble its efforts to get the extradition of Quattrocchi and Chadha.

Quattrocchi is living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Chadha in Dubai.

The CBI would approach these governments to bring them to India to face trial in the case.

Admitting that Chadha had recently acquired a Belize passport, the CBI, however, maintained that this would not have any material impact on the case.

Incidentally, the Bofors case has been a major issue in all the Lok Sabha elections since 1989.

V P Singh made it the main plank of his campaign in 1989 when the National Front came to power, defeating the Congress headed by Rajiv Gandhi.

The receipt of Swiss bank documents and the subsequent interrogation and examination of suspects and witnesses by the CBI once again made it a poll issue in the March 1998 Lok Sabha election.

Besides Solanki and Bhatnagar, the others questioned by the CBI included former Union ministers Arun Singh and Arun Nehru, former army chief the late Gen K Sundarji and about half-a-dozen retired lt generals.

Meanwhile, Solanki told Rediff On The NeT, "I have just come back from Ahmedabad and heard the news. Since the matter is sub judice, I will not comment on it, but I can say that I have not received any summons from the CBI. When they file the chargesheet in court, I will see what I have to say."

He also said, "I have not even retained an advocate till now because I don't know what they are holding out against me."

EARLIER REPORTS:

The Sonia conundrum unravels itself
Bofors, Bhagwat are different issues, says Pawar
Government looks to Bofors to counter Congress onslaught

UNI

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