The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has submitted a judicial request to the United States, sending a Letter Rogatory (LR) to seek information from private investigator Michael Hershman. Hershman had expressed his willingness to provide crucial details related to the Rs 64 crore Bofors bribery scandal from the 1980s.
As reported by Indian Express, the process to send the LR was initiated on October 14 of last year, and it was dispatched in February after receiving approval from the relevant court. The CBI has also updated the special court handling the agency라이브 바카라 request for further investigation into the alleged bribery case regarding these recent developments.
What Is Bofors Scam?
On March 18, 1986, India entered into a Rs 1,437 crore deal with Swedish arms manufacturer AB Bofors to supply 400 155 mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army. A year later, on April 16, 1987, a Swedish radio station accused the company of bribing top Indian politicians and defense officials to secure the contract.
The scandal sent shockwaves through the Rajiv Gandhi-led government in the late 1980s. On January 22, 1990, the CBI filed an FIR against Bofors' then-president Martin Ardbo, alleged middleman Win Chadda, and the Hinduja brothers, accusing them of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery.
The allegations claimed that a group of public servants and private individuals, both in India and abroad, had engaged in a criminal conspiracy between 1982 and 1987, during which offences of bribery, corruption, cheating, and forgery were committed.
On May 31, 2005, Justice (retired) R S Sodhi of the Delhi High Court had quashed the CBI case in the Bofors pay-off scam. Before that, Justice (retired) J D Kapoor, had on February 4, 2004, exonerated Gandhi in the case and directed the framing of charge of forgery under Section 465 of the Indian Penal Code against Bofors company.
A special CBI court in Delhi on March 4, 2011 had discharged Quattrocchi from the case saying the country could not afford to spend hard-earned money on his extradition which had already cost Rs 250 crore. Quattrocchi, who had fled India on July 29-30, 1993, never appeared before any court in India to face prosecution. He passed away on July 13, 2013. Bhatnagar, Chadda and Ardbo were the other accused who died.
