I did not resign from politics because of Bofors.
You know the extent of media coverage(on Bofors) during that period(1988-89).
In the papers, Bofors had directly threatened the Rajiv Gandhi
government to keep the information“secret”.
It is an upgrade of the existing 155m, 39 calibre Bofors FH 77 gun.
No real information
was revealed to the JPC either by the government or by Bofors.
Secondly, Rahul Gandhi has the
burden of a stigmatised legacy which was tainted by Bofors.
During the time of the Bofors allegation, I entered a court in London to defend myself.
I don't want to talk about Bofors because Bofors was a scam and Rafale is not.
Bofors was also insistent that it needed to know
how information was going to be kept secret.
The design of Dhanush is based on the Bofors Haubits FH77 which India acquired in the 1980s.
She alleged the
Congress party asked media outlets to not publish anything on Bofors during the late 1980s.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court can hear
Friday on the politically sensitive Rs 64-crore Bofors bribe case Friday.
This is the first
acquisition of such weapon systems by the army in three decades since the Bofors scandal.
Be it Bofors, Agusta Westland or any other defense scam the
party that suffered in the end were“Indian Defense forces”.
But is 2019 really going to be 1989 all over again and
will Rafale become the Bofors of our times?
In 1999, the Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) named him in a chargesheet as the conduit for the Bofors bribes.
The Bofors scam in which former PM Rajiv Gandhi was also named,
he did paperwork related to that case in 1989.
According to the set of characteristics of the 37-mm gun, the Bofors M/ 34 was the best in its class.
Interestingly, before this meeting was held, the names of Walter Vinci and
Val de Moro never came up in the Bofors context.
The setting was perfect, but his friends and enemies were both dead
sure he wouldn't be able to make Bofors an issue.
Post-script: The Bofors scandal broke in the pre-television era where
news agendas could be set by a handful of leading English newspapers.
The military requirement was for a range of 30 kilometers;
the Sofma gun's range was 29.2 kilometers, while Bofors' had 21.5 kilometers.
The Dhanush gun system is based on Bofors acquired in the 1980s
and whose purchase was mired in controversy because of alleged corruption.
For the first time after 30 years of Bofors's arrival, the Army M777
and K9 thunderstorms were performed in the Republic Day Parade.
A direct consequence of the threatening tone adopted by Bofors was the Government of India in fact conceded
that certain information would be classified‘secret'.
Had the deal been cancelled and
financial pressure was then felt by Bofors, as suggested by General Sundarji,
the names of the real culprits could have surfaced.
Interestingly, in the process
of lying and asserting that no bribes were paid, Bofors mentioned two interesting names that stand out-
Walter Vinci and Val De Moro.
The JPC never asked the Bofors representatives
or the Defence Secretary who represented the government why these two names had come up during the meeting at all.
The Sena said Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi,
an accused in the Bofors scandal, could not have left
India without the help from the Indian government and the CBI.
The Sena said Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors scandal, could not have left
India without the help from the Indian government and the CBI.