NEW DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was in possession of documents to prove that Bofors, in spite of the fact that it had informed the Government of India that there were no middlemen in the gun deal, had paid commission to agents of over Rs 1,100 crore, the counsel for CBI, Altaf Ahmed, Additional Solicitor General, told the Delhi High Court recently.

Continuing his arguments before Chief Justice G.C. Mittal and Justice Satpal on the writ petition filed by former Bofors Agent in India, Win Chadha challenging the First Information Report (FIR) registered by CBI against him, the counsel for CBI said that if the judges desired the documents would be produced in court.

After the CBI filed the FIR, in January 1990, the counsel said it had requested Swiss authorities to freeze the accounts in Swiss Banks into which Bofors deposited the commission for the gun deal. The Swiss authorities had informed the CBI that it would freeze the accounts only after it was satisfied that Bofors had paid commissions in the gun deal.

After inquiries, the Swiss authorities, the CBI counsel said froze five accounts, including that of Svenska, a Panama-based firm linked to Win Chadha, This reinforces the CBI stand that Bofors had paid commission to its Indian agent, and the Swiss National Audit Bureau Report also had confirmed that commissions were paid to the Indian agent, the counsel added.

However, Bofors deliberately misrepresented and claimed that they had only paid winding-up charges to its former agent in India, Anatronics General Corporation, the company owned by Win Chadha. Thus, Bofors concealed the identity of the middleman and also the amount paid as commission for the gun deal, the counsel added. On a query from Justice Satpal as to how could it justify filing the FIR against Chadha when, despite the claim in the FIR that certain public servants were involved in the fraud on the Indian Government, no names have been mentioned.

The counsel replied that payments were made to the Indian Agent of Bofors in the gun deal in breach of the understanding between Bofors and the Indian Government. Even if public servants have not been named, a case is made out against both Bofors and Win Chadha under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, he said, They were guilty of criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, he added.

While the CBI counsel was  putting forward his arguments, the counsel for Chadha, Rajinder Singh wanted to know whether the CBI agreed with the contention that the Government of India got the gun from Bofors at the cheapest price.

Article extracted from this publication >> Aug 14, 1992