GENEVA: The Swiss investigation into who got the money in the Bofors gun deal has become stuck once again. Federal authorities in Bern say they cannot understand why Geneva is not giving its verdict and the Cantonal Court in Geneva has indicated it will not budge till the Indian Supreme Court takes a stand.
Judge Patrick Blaser of Geneva is under the impression that the Indian Supreme Court will render its verdict on November 17 the date fixed for hearings. There has been no serious effort from New Delhi to correct Judge Blasers perception He does not know that the Supreme Court can take months to decide.
What he does know is that there is no burning desire among Indias ruling political bosses to discover who swindled the country. L’affaire Solanki was just one more indication of that. And no one here understands how the New Delhi High Court could quash the investigation as it did last September.
Bofors-watchers in Switzerland say if India can bring political pressure to slow and stop the proceedings the converse should also be possible without politicizing the case. In other words there is nothing to stop the political bosses in New Delhi from sending a message saying they want the verdict immediately.
They would be breaking no Swiss law and would be well within their rights to wonder why Geneva cannot make up its mind when Bern has though that does not mean they will get a decision instantly. The Geneva Cantonal Court is an independent authority but a message of that nature would serve to reinforce India’s commitment to the case always assuming it exists.
Not that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said anything different in recent months.
But the CBI is battling against a credibility problem in this country. India’s premier investigating agency has changed its stand so often that one is no longer certain whether it is coming or going and everyone here is prepared for a volte face every moment. Besides routine enquiries from the CBI about progress in the case does not carry the same weight as for example a question from the Prime Minister wondering what is happening.
There is precedent: the Prime Minister did send a message asking Swiss authorities to ignore his former foreign minister Madhavsinh Solankis note that sought to stop the proceedings here.
It is this degree of uncertainty that the judge in Geneva has to cope with. “India is responsible for the delay” he told the Indian Express recently. After all the New Delhi High Courts bombshell decision came some 48 hours before Blaser was going to announce this. “I will decide on November 18” he finally said.
Nobody has told the judge a decision may not be forthcoming as soon as that. Last time the New Delhi High Court fiddled with the case the Supreme Court took some eight months to reverse the situation.
“The problem is your Supreme Court and our Chamber d’accusation and in that order” said Michel Andre Fels jurist at the Federal police office in Bern. “It would help us very much if the Supreme Court decided quickly in the meantime we are discussing the case with Geneva and hope the judge will decide next week” he said.
The Geneva judge is not required by law to wait for developments in India. Fels said the Swiss Supreme Court has made it clear on several occasions that mutual assistance can be stopped only if the letter rotatory is formally withdrawn.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 6, 1992
