January 15, 2006
Dear Prime Minister,
Recent developments with regard to the interference of the Ministry of Law, the Minister of Law & Justice Mr. H.R. Bhardwaj and the Additional Solicitor General of India, Mr. B. Datta, in the criminal proceedings against Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi have shaken the confidence of the people of India in the fairness of the Government. Mr.Quattrocchi is charged with having received kick-backs in the Bofors Gun deal, a contact which was executed in the year 1986. The fact that Mr. Quattrocchi was extremely close to the-then Prime Minister, Mr.Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the UPA, is perceived to be a ground for his having gained political clout and the capacity to influence the Defence transaction in 1986.
Fairness requires that since the accused has close connections in high places, the role of the Government and the investigative agencies in dealing with him must confirm to the highest standards of fair play, transparency and impartiality. However, events have proved that this is not so. In 1993, despite the Swiss authorities having informed the Central Bureau of Investigation about the fact of Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi being a beneficiary of the kick-backs, his passport was not impounded and he was allowed to escape from India. A charge-sheet was filed against him in October, 1999. Attempts have been made by the Central Bureau of Investigation to extradite him to India. The proceedings for extradition have virtually become infructuous since he appears to have now escaped from Malaysia to Italy. Why have we not taken any steps to extradite him from Italy?
Mr. Quattrocchi was apparently the beneficiary of an account in Switzerland where payments were made to his benefit in the name of M/s A E Services Limited. The CBI has since investigated the money trail from this beneficial account. The CBI on the strength of this investigation succeeded in getting the two accounts in Britain frozen wherein moneys springing out of the benefits of the Bofors bribery case were alleged to have been deposited. Mr. Quattrocchi’s legal remedies in the matter did not yield results. It appears that he has now turned to his powerful political friends for help.
It is disturbing surprising that the Government of India through its Additional Solicitor General should have volunteered to inform the Crown Prosecutor that moneys lying deposited in the two British accounts be paid to Mr. Quattrocchi after de-freezing the accounts. This is an extraordinary concession volunteered by the Government of India. The CBI and the CBI alone is authorized to deal with this case. The Ministry of Law has no locus standii in the matter. Under the Allocation of Business Rules, the CBI comes under the Department of Personnel of which you are the Cabinet Minister. The job of the Law Ministry is merely to tender legal advice and to provide for lawyers to represent different Departments of the Government. Who authorized the Law Ministry to deal with this matter? Who authorized the visit of the Additional Solicitor General of India to Britain? Who prevented the CBI officer from accompanying the Additional Solicitor General of India? It is now clear from various reports, which have been published that the CBI was not in concurrence with what the Additional Solicitor General did. Questions with regard to the creditability of the Government and your own role in the matter are also being raised. Had you authorized this concession to help Mr. Ottavio Quattrocchi or were you kept in the dark? The country is entitled to know an answer from a government, which claims the legislation on ‘The Right to Information’ as its achievement. The fact that you are not acting against an erring and a delinquent Minister raises doubts about the existence of any accountability in the government.
Notwithstanding this debate, the issue of concern to the entire country now is with regard to preventing the damage caused by the action of the Law Minister and the Additional Solicitor General of India. The Crown Prosecutor in Britain will obviously act on the basis of the opinion given to him by the Additional Solicitor General and these two bank accounts are likely to be de-frozen soon. Moneys would immediately fly out of these accounts to unknown destinations. This needs to be prevented immediately. In case the Central Bureau of Investigation honestly believes that the Additional Solicitor General should not have made this concession, and you feel that this concession was made without your concurrence, the opinion given by the Additional Solicitor General to the Crown Prosecutor requires to be countermanded forthwith. If this is not done, the inaction of the Government of India would again directly help Mr. Quattrocchi.
I am writing to you to draw the above facts to your notice and request for your immediate intervention in the matter.
With regards,
Yours sincerely,
ARUN JAITLEY
Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Hon’ble the Prime Minister of India,
7, Race Course Road,
New Delhi.
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