CBI sends judicial request to US for fresh info on Bofors scandal
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a letter rogatory (LR) or judicial request to the US seeking information and evidence from private investigator Michael Hershman, who has expressed willingness to share fresh information about the alleged ₹64-crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s.
In 2018, the CBI approached a Delhi court saying it was reopening the case in light of Hershman’s interview with a TV channel. The agency closed the Bofors probe in 2011.
Officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the LR was sent after a court’s permission through the ministries of home affairs and external affairs.
The Delhi high court exonerated the late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the Bofors case in 2004. A year later, it quashed all charges against the remaining accused, including the Hinduja brothers. A Delhi court in 2011 discharged Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the alleged middleman in the Bofors payoff who died in 2013, and allowed the CBI to withdraw prosecution against him.
A ₹64-crore bribe was allegedly paid in the ₹1,437-crore deal with Swedish firm Bofors in the 1980s when the Congress was in power for 400 155mm field howitzers, which played a role in India’s victory in the 1999 Kargil war. The CBI filed a closure report in the case in 2011 citing lack of evidence.
Hershman alleged Congress derailed the investigation into the alleged scam and expressed his willingness to share details with the CBI when he visited India in 2017 for a private detectives conference.
The CBI took note of his claims and announced in 2017 that the matter would be reinvestigated. Officials said US authorities requested more time when the CBI wrote to them in November 2023, December 2023, May 2024, and August 2024 through Interpol, prompting the agency to opt for the LR under which a court sends a formal request for information to the relevant authorities.
A Delhi court on February 11 accepted an application for LR filed in October 2024. The CBI cited Hershman’s interview with a TV channel saying the Union finance ministry in 1986 appointed him to investigate violations of currency control laws/money laundering of Indians abroad and tracking of such assets outside India. It added some of them pertained to the Bofors deal.
The Delhi court in its February 11 order cited further investigation and said it had requisitioned relevant documents from the ministry including about engagement with Hershman or any report he submitted. It added the documents were currently unavailable as the matter is old.
“Further, a request was also sent through the Interpol channel, seeking information/documents, useful for investigation of the present case,” the court said. It added the reply from Interpol was awaited. The court cited the request to collect documentary and oral evidence for facts related to Hershman’s claims. It added it was necessary to investigate the claims and the investigating officer moved an application for LR issuance.
The court allowed the CBI’s plea for LR with a request to the concerned authorities in the US for the collection of documents, recording statements of the person concerned, and conducting the investigation.
The CBI registered a case in 1990 three years after a Swedish radio channel alleged Bofors paid bribes to Indian politicians and defence officials to clinch the deal. It filed the charge sheets in 1999 and 2000 in the case.
Rival parties targeted the Rajiv Gandhi-led government over the allegations, which were among the reasons for Congress’s defeat in the 1989 election.