CBI to withdraw all cases against Bofors scam main accused Quattrocchi India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday decided to withdraw all cases registered against Bofors scam main accused and Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. "We want to close the matter against Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrocchi," said the CBI. The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that they want to withdraw all cases against Quattrocchi. Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told the court that the CBI has failed to extradite Quattrocchi and that the Delhi High Court has held that there is no case under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the Bofors matter. The Supreme Court will hear the matter on December 11. The controversial Bofors gun deal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s, in which former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were allegedly accused of receiving kickbacks from A B Bofors the Swedish arms manufacturer for it to win the bid to supply the Indian Army with 155 mm howitzer guns. The court had on February 10, 1997, sent letters to Malaysia and the UAE seeking the arrest and extradition of Quattrocchi. The CBI had registered an FIR in the Bofors case on January 22, 1990, three years after Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, had claimed that A B Bofors had paid kickbacks to top Indian politicians and key defence officials to secure the Rs 1,437 crore gun deal. The contract between the Indian Government and AB Bofors was signed on March 24, 1986.