NEW DELHI: A Swiss court has extended till October 31 its deadline for submission of the Indian Supreme Court its judgment in the Bofors case a CBI spokesman said.
The Geneva cantonal court in its ruling on Jan 23 this year had held that if the Supreme Court did not give its judgment by August 31 it would be forced to defreeze five secret Swiss bank accounts into which the alleged kickbacks in the Bofors gun deal had been paid.
The CBI had made a plea through the Swiss authorities that the deadline for the verdict by India’s apex court is extended by two months The cantonal court accordingly granted the request the spokesman said.
‘The supreme court delivered the judgment on the validity of the letter regulatory sent by CBI to the Swiss authorities on August 27 well within the deadline set by the cantonal court. The judgment has cleared all hurdles in the infestation of the Rs 14.50 billion gun deal scandal by the CBI.
In the meanwhile the CBI has requested the Indian embassy in Bere to convey to the Swiss authorities that a certified copy of the Supreme Court judgment would be send as soon as it was available.
In its January ruling the cantonal court had held that it would not proceed any further with CBI plea for handing over of the documents relating to the frozen Swiss bank accounts till the apex court in India decided on the validity of the letter of request seeking cooperation of the Swiss authorities for un-travelling the kickbacks.
The cantonal court had also said that it would defreeze the five frozen Swiss bank accounts— “Lotus” “Tulip” “Mont Blanc” Sevenska in Corporate and an un named account— if the Supreme Court judgment was not pronounced by August 31.
Article extracted from this publication >> September 13, 1991
