Massive impact of Republic TV's Bofors expose

A day after Republic TV exposed massive revelations in the infamous Bofors case, the issue echoed in Parliament on Monday. Chants of ‘Bofors’ were heard as soon as the House convened for the day.

BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi raised the issue of the Bofors scandal, demanding the opening of the 'boxes'. She said the 'ghost of Bofors' will continue to haunt Parliament.  The BJP accused Congress president Sonia Gandhi of helping the middleman in the case, Ottavio Quattrocchi.

READ| Bofors Scandal Explained

"The genie of Bofors is back again and the basic issue remains that the investigation which should have been taken place had not taken place yet. In fact everybody collaborated to scuttle the investigation. It is for everyone to see that the skeletons will keep coming out till they have a decent burial. The decent burial of Bofors has not happened at all," Ms. Lekhi said.

"The documents which were received by the Swiss Banks were never worked at, bail applications were moved and unfortunately the bails were granted without looking at the law. In the absence of decent burial, as I said, the genie will keep coming back," she asserted.

There was complete ruckus in Parliament over the issue, even as the Congress tried to block any discussion on the Bofors scandal. 

The Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan later slammed the conduct of Congress MPs who threw papers at the Chair. She suspended G.Gogoi, K.Suresh, Adhiranjan Chowdhary, Ranjeet Ranjan,Sushmita Dev & MK Raghavan under rule 377A for five days.    

Three MPs — Prem Singh Chandumajra, R.K. Singh and one from the BJD — spoke to Republic TV on Sunday and confirmed that they would raise the issue in Parliament.

READ| Bofors Chief Investigating Officer Sten Lindstrom Reveals Rajiv Gandhi's Role

Over three decades after the news of the scam broke out, Republic TV's editorial advisor Chitra Subramaniam, who first brought out the Bofors documents in public view, spoke to the person who was heading the National Investigation Department of Sweden.

Sten Lindstrom, the Chief Investigator in the Bofors case in Sweden, has made claims that shake the very foundations of the narrative that has been woven by the Congress for decades now.  Among the many claims, he had revealed the role played by then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the case.

Parliamentary papers accessed

According to the Parliamentary papers that were submitted by the MoD to the Panel, commissions paid were a matter of record and the Rajiv Gandhi government obfuscated the investigation.

The papers also reveal that the Rajiv Gandhi government delayed submitting documents and that the then Prime Minister's Office took direct interest in the audit report. The note also proves that the UPA government buried the Bofors probe and that the CBI wanted to pursue it. The papers give ample hint of kickbacks in the Bofors scandal.

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