NEW DELHI: VP Singh said that India will bar all purchases from the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors until the company reveals the names of Indians to whom it apparently paid kickbacks in a 1986 arms contract.
The $1.4 billion contract for artillery guns was made under the administration of Rajiv Gandhi, who has been accused of blocking, investigations into allegations of payments of tens of millions of dollars in secret commissions on the sale.
Speaking to the upper house of Parliament, Mr. Singh also said that before Bofors could conduct any more business with the Indian government the company would have to retrieve and return to New Delhi any money paid in illegal fees.
“We will do everything to get the names and come to the truth,” he said as his supporters pounded their desks and cheered.
But Mr. Singh who is also Defense Minister, was unable to complete his full statement because he was quickly shouted down by members of Gandhi’s Congress Party.
The Bofors gun became a symbol of Government corruption in the election campaign that led to the defeat of Gandhi last month. Indian and Swedish newspapers had reported earlier that illegal payments may have been paid to high officials in the Gandhi administration, if not to Gandhi himself or members of his family.
Gandhi’s aides have also been accused of devising a cover up to confuse investigators trying to trace Swedish payments through European banks and companies that appear to have been set up as fronts.
Gandhi has denied any personal involvement in the kickbacks scandal, and continues to insist that Bofors assured him that no commissions were paid to Indians. Mr. Singh said that the authonties in Switzerland were asked on December 12 to expedite information on Swiss bank accounts needed by law enforcement agencies here. If there has been any injustice anywhere, it has to be removed,” he declared. “What Punjab needs is not the bayonet but the message of trust.”
Gandhi again shot up in his seat to accuse Singh of vacillating on former governor Ray’s messages to arrest those preaching Khalistan. While not directly responding to him, Singh said that he was not responsible to the Governor, but only to parliament.
Ray before resigning had ordered the release of Harminder Singh Sandhu, general secretary of the AISSF.
Within hours of emerging from prison, Sandhu declared that the only solution to the Punjab problem lay in a separate Sikh state. Ray then ostensibly sought to re arrest him, but later said he was not permitted by the new government to do so.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 29, 1989
