Supreme Court rejects CBI plea to re-open Bofors case after 13-year

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) plea challenging the 2005 Delhi High Court verdict giving a clean chit to Hinduja brothers in the Bofors case. The top court said that appeals are timebound and it can not entertain CBI’s appeal in the matter. The plea against the high court verdict was filed almost an extraordinarily long delay of 13 years.

The Bofors scandal revolved the purchase of 400 15mm Howitzer guns for the Indian Army. It has remained shrouded in murky waters ever since it came to light on March 24, 1987, when a Swedish radio channel claimed that the company had paid kickbacks to several influential Indian politicians including the then prime minister and defence personnel to secure the contract.

The London-based billionaire Hinduja brothers had been cleared of accepting bribes in the Bofors scandal by the Delhi High Court on May 31 of 2005. Srichand Hinduja and his two brothers Gopichand and Prakash had been cleared from accusations that they had received payments amounting to $8.3 million from Sweden-based AB Bofors to help gain an Indian government contract for Bofors guns.

In the year 2005, the High Court had also given a clean chit to AB Bofors which had been accused of paying $1.3 billion in bribes. The court had also quashed charges against all other accused involved in the Bofors scam.

Rajiv Gandhi, however, was exonerated of wrongdoing by the Delhi High Court in 2011. As was Ottavio Quattrocchi, a friend of Rajiv Gandhi — who is accused of being the middleman in the Bofors deal.

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