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Bofors furore leaves Martin Ardbo unmoved

Martin Arbdo, the man whom the Central Bureau of Investigation holds as the prime accused in the 1.4 billion dollar Bofors case, has dismissed the case as a ''closed chapter.''

''The case in question happened 13 years ago. For me it is a closed chapter and I intend to keep it so,'' Arbdo, the chief executive of Bofors AB during the 1980s when the contract for the sale of 410 howitzers to India was signed, said.

''I cannot understand why they (the Indian government) are taking up the case again. It has only to do with politics. It is a closed chapter and should remain buried along with some of its protagonists,'' he said.

The news that the CBI has filed a chargesheet in the Bofors case has been taken with complacent equanimity in Sweden.

Reactions from official quarters, the weapons' company and Ardbo indicate clearly that the trial cannot in any way affect them.

Ardbo shrugs off the threat of getting him extradited to India to stand trial as no more than ''nonsense.''

''There is no possible way that they (the CBI) can get me extradited to India. And, I, by no means intend to voluntarily oblige them,'' he remarked.

He explains that ''there is no question of guilt or innocence. The Indians know precisely which persons received the money.''

Although Ardbo will not elaborate which protagonists he has in mind, several of the prominent ones are, indeed, no more: former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, his Swedish counterpart then Olof Palme, both victims of assassins -- in the case of the latter, the death still a mystery.

There is also Admiral Algernon, the Swedish war materiel inspector in 1986, who met with a strange death under a Stockholm subway train. Sources close to him maintain that he was much bothered by the cannon deal and was considered a threat.

The matter of Ardbo's extradition from Sweden is a doomed enterprise. Says Asa Arvidson, spokesperson for the Swedish foreign ministry on Indian affairs: ''There is no question of extradition. We never extradite Swedish citizens, whatsoever the case.''

Arvidson also said, ''We have not received any request from India seeking extradition of Martin Ardbo. I have only heard about it from reading Indian press clippings forwarded by the Swedish embassy in Delhi.''

UNI

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