NEW DELHI, India, June 11, Reuter: Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government, under heavy pressure to investigate kickbacks in arms deals, said today it would send a high-level team to Switzerland to discuss numbered bank accounts held there illegally by Indians.

The announcement came a week after Sweden told India “considerable amounts” had been paid in connection with a 1.3 billion arms sale to India by the Swedish firm Bofors.

The Indian government denied any middlemen were involved or that any commissions were paid.

But after the Swedish government’s announcement it promised a parliamentary investigation.

In a brief statement today, the government said the Indian team would hold talks shortly with Swiss authorities on illegal deposits and investments by Indians in Switzerland.

It said the team would be headed by Amitabh Ghosh, Deputy Governor of the reserve bank of India. It would also include legal experts and officials of the External Affairs Ministry.

A government spokesman declined to elaborate on the statement but the Press Trust of India news agency said the officials would seek an agreement with the Swiss to obtain information on secret numbered accounts of Indians.

The allegations of kickbacks to Indian officials, first made by the official Swedish radio last month, and reports of payoffs in connection with a submarine deal signed with a West German firm in the early 1980s have tarnished Gandhi’s “Mr. Clean” image.

For weeks Indian newspapers have frontage reports about kickbacks and accused the government of showing no inclination to investigate the allegations.

The contract for Fh77 field guns was the biggest ever signed by a Swedish arms company.

The Swedish report said an agreement existed between Bofors and a party it did not name for payment of commissions. Bofors told Swedish investigators the payments had been made to a Swiss company. But the Swedish National Audit Bureau said it had decided not to press for clarification from the Swiss banks.

Indian opposition parties have seized on the reports to launch a scathing attack on Gandhi whose party is fighting a crucial election next week in Haryana State, part of the Hindi heartland from which it draws its main strength.

Article extracted from this publication >>  June 19, 1987