If there is only ONE thing you read today, make sure this is it

From Sh S Gurumurthy‘s damning expose of missing millions, pay-offs and unaccounted wealth, “Zero tolerance, secret billions”, some excerpts (emphasis added):

…Following Rajiv and forgetting Indira, Sonia Gandhi proclaimed ‘zero tolerance’ to corruption at a party rally in Allahabad in November 2010. She repeated it at the Congress plenary in Delhi weeks later. Asking the cadre to take the corrupt head on, she said that her party was ‘prompt’ in acting against the corrupt; ‘never spared the corrupt’ because corruption impedes development’. This was almost how Rajiv Gandhi spoke in the Congress centenary in Mumbai 25 years ago. Two crucial differences marked Rajiv away from Sonia. First, when Rajiv claimed to be ‘Mr Clean’, he had no scams to defend against. But, Sonia claims to be honest amidst huge and continuing scams — CWG, Adarsh, 2G Spectrum allocation scam…. Next, Rajiv had a clean slate to begin with, with no known skeletons in his cupboard till the Bofors scam smashed his ‘Mr Clean’ image. In contrast, Sonia’s slate is full of credible exposures of bribes and pay-offs in billions of dollars secreted in Swiss bank accounts, not counting Quattrocchi’s millions from Bofors…Sonia’s vow to act against the corrupt seems like a suspect hooting ‘catch the thief’ and scooting away. This is the main story that unfolds here.

$2.2 billions to 11 billions!
A stunning exposure on Sonia Gandhi’s secret billions in Swiss banks came, surprisingly, from Switzerland itself..In its issue of November 19, 1991, Schweizer Illustrierte, the most popular magazine of Switzerland, did an exposé of over a dozen politicians of the third world, including Rajiv Gandhi, who had stashed away their bribe monies in Swiss banks. ..Citing the newly opened KGB records, the magazine reported ‘that Sonia Gandhi the widow of the former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was controlling secret account with 2.5 billion Swiss Francs (equal to $2.2 billion) in her minor son’s name’. …By any calculation the present size of the $2.2 billion secret funds of the family in Swiss banks seems huge — anywhere between Rs 43,000 plus to some Rs 84,000 crore!

Image Courtesy: Janata Party website

KGB papers
The second exposé, emanating from the archives of the Russian spy outfit KGB, is far more serious. It says that the Gandhi family has accepted political pay-offs from the KGB — a clear case of treason besides bribe. In her book The State Within a State: The KGB and its Hold on Russia-Past, Present, and Future, Yevgenia Albats, an acclaimed investigative journalist, says:

A letter signed by Victor Chebrikov, who replaced Andropov as the KGB head in 1982 noted: ‘the USSR KGB maintains contact with the son of the Premier Minister Rajiv Gandhi (of India). R Gandhi expresses deep gratitude for the benefits accruing to the Prime Minister’s family from the commercial dealings of the firm he controls in co-operation with the Soviet foreign trade organisations. R Gandhi reports confidentially that a substantial portion of the funds obtained through this channel are used to support the party of R Gandhi’. (p.223).

Albats has also disclosed that, in December 2005, KGB chief Victor Chebrikov had asked for authorisation from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, “to make payments in US dollars to the family members of Rajiv Gandhi, namely Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Ms Paola Maino, mother of Sonia Gandhi.”

Indian media

Rajiv Gandhi’s sad demise delayed the Swiss and Russian exposé on Sonia being picked up here. But Indian media’s interest in it actually coincided with Sonia Gandhi assuming leadership of the Congress. A G Noorani, a well-known columnist, had reported on both Schweizer Illustrierte and Albats’ exposés in Statesman (December 31, 1988). Subramanian Swamy had put out the photocopies of the pages of Schweizer Illustrierte and Albats’ book in his website along with the mail of the Swiss magazine dated February 23, 2002 confirming that in its article of November 1991 it had named Rajiv Gandhi with a total of Swiss Franc 2.5 billion ($2.2 billion) in secret account; it had also offered to supply a original copy of the magazine to Swamy. (See: http://www.janataparty.org/annexures/ann10p43.html) These facts were again recalled in my article in The New Indian Express (April 29, 2009) written in response to Sonia Gandhi speech at Mangalore (April 27, 2009)..Rajinder Puri, a reputed journalist, has also earlier written on the KGB disclosures in his column on August 15, 2006. Recently, in India Today (December 27, 2010) the redoubtable Ram Jethmalani has referred to the Swiss exposé, asking where is that money now? …Amal Datta (CPI(M)) had raised the $2.2 billion issue in Parliament on December 7, 1991, but Speaker Shivraj Patil expunged the Gandhi name from the proceedings!

Self-incriminating
But, what has been the response of Sonia or Rahul, major after June 1988, to the investigation by Schweizer Illustrierte and Albats and to the Indian media’s repeated references to their investigation? It can be summed up in one word: Silence.
Thus, apart from the exposés, the deafening silence of the Gandhis itself constitutes the most damaging and self-incriminating evidence of the family’s guilt. When Schweizer Illustrierte alleged that Sonia had held Rajiv Gandhi’s bribes in Rahul’s name in Swiss banks, neither she nor the son, protested, or sued the magazine, then or later; nor did they sue A G Noorani or Statesman when they repeated it in 1998, or later; nor would they sue Subramanian Swamy when he put it on his website in 2002; neither did they sue me, or the Express when the article was carried in April 2009. When major papers, The Hindu and The Times of India included, had carried the expose on KGB payments in the year 1992 itself adding that the Russian government was embarrassed by the disclosures, neither of the Gandhis challenged or sued them; nor did they sue Yevgenia Albats when she wrote about KGB payments to Rajiv Gandhi in 1994. Neither did they act against  Swamy when he put Albats’ book pages on his website or when Rajinder Puri, a well-known journalist, wrote about it in his column on August 15, 2006.

…Imagine that the report in Schweizer Illustrierte or in Albats book was false and Sonia Gandhi did not have those billions in secret accounts in Rahul Gandhi’s name or the family was not paid for its service to the KGB as alleged. How would they, as honest and outraged people, have reacted? Like how Morarji Desai, then retired and old at 87, responded in anger when, Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist, had mentioned in his book that Morarji Desai was a ‘paid’ CIA mole in the Indian Cabinet. Morarji Desai forthwith filed a libel suit. …That is how even retired and old persons, honest and so offended and outraged, would act. But see the self-incriminating contrast, the complete absence of such outrage, in Sonia, who is reigning as the chairperson of the UPA now, neither retired or tired like the nonagenarian Morarji Desai, being just 41 when the story broke out in Schweizer Illustrierte. Imagine, not Sonia or Rahul, but Advani or Modi had figured in the exposés of Schweizer Illustrierte or Albats. What would the media not have done to nail them? What would the government of Sonia not have done to fix them?

Looters safe

Just a couple of examples will demonstrate how the government is unwilling to go after Indian money secreted abroad. As early as February 2008 the German authorities had collected information about illegal money kept by citizens of different countries in Lichtenstein bank. The German finance minister offered to provide the names of the account holders to any government interested in the names of its citizens. There were media reports that some 250 Indian names were found in the Lichtenstein Bank list. Yet, despite the open offer from Germany to provide the details, the UPA-II government has never showed interest in the Indian accounts in Lichtenstein Bank. The Times of India reported that “the ministry of finance and PMO have, however, not shown much interest in finding out about those who have their lockers on the secret banks of Liechtenstein which prides itself in its banking system”. But under mounting pressure the Indian government asked for details not under the open offer but strategically under India’s tax treaty with Germany. What is the difference? Under the tax treaty the information received would have to be kept confidential; but, if it were received openly, it can be disclosed to the public. Is any further evidence needed to prove that the government is keen to see that the names of Indians who had secreted monies abroad are not disclosed?

The second is the sensational case of Hasan Ali, the alleged horse-breeder of Pune, who was found to have operated Swiss accounts involving over Rs 1.5 lakh-crore. The income tax department has levied a tax of Rs 71,848 crore on him for concealing Indian income secreted in Swiss accounts. This case is being buried now. The request sent to the Swiss government was deliberately made faulty to ensure that the Swiss would not provide details. Some big names in the ruling circles are reportedly linked to Hasan Ali. That explains why the government would not deepen the probe. It is Hasan Alis and the like who transport through hawala the bribes of the corrupt from India. If Hasan Ali is exposed, the corrupt will stand naked. This is how the hawala trader and the corrupt in India are mixed-up.

***

Please do read it in full, share and spread the word.  More on corruption and politics tomorrow (including Hassan Ali).

Related Posts: Burying Bofors and somewhat related: Rajiv Gandhi, Ministry of Food Processing and a sense of history.  Also read why RG does not feel the need to apologise for Bofors:

It’s a complete lie. And it’s a lie used by opposition governments for 20 years. So there is absolutely nothing I have to apologise for about that.

Sigh.

Also read: Question of the Week: Where are the BJP’s poll strategists?

B Shantanu

Political Activist, Blogger, Advisor to start-ups, Seed investor. One time VC and ex-Diplomat. Failed mushroom farmer; ex Radio Jockey. Currently involved in Reclaiming India - One Step at a Time.

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25 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    Gandhis against corruption? I guess.. showing everyone their original passports ( Ittalian) and Rahul baba’s false edu certificates wud be a good start 😀

  2. ranganaathan says:

    Shantanuji, this article should be viewed with numerous articles of Shri.Guru, he has been one of the arrows of Shri.Goenka, who was against this corrupt family of Indira, then later Rajiv till he breathed his last. However Shri.Guru has the art of making these complex scams broken down to the lay mens language. I thank you to have posted his article today, i consider Shri. Guru as an person with the courage, passion to oppose the corrupt elements of this society. Jai Hind..Vande Mataram

  3. Prem says:

    I guess people voicing their concern against Gandhis (or other politicians) are just a jealous lot! They are preaching morality/honesty because they did not get a chance to enjoy India’s wealth (read r*pe India) but I am sure like all other > 1.2 billion Indians, they have not hesitated when bribing concerned authorities to get their work done. Come on guys, lets just accept that we, Indians, are one of the most selfish lot of human beings and have failed miserably in evolving as a society! We have no sense of community so “if something wrong is being done which does not affect me in an obvious way, it is fine with me”… that is the sanskar we all have inherited! We are also one of the most illiterate and unintelligent lot as we fail to understand the simple dynamics of democracy and power play that has been going on in our country! All these scams and the money that is stolen belongs to the tax payers i.e. you and me. But despite of having MBA and BE degrees, this tax paying middle class fails to understand this basic thing that it is our money that is being stolen and is no different than someone breaking into our house and stealing our stuff away!

    I can go on and on with my rants but won’t coz I know it is of no use, we are people with dead conscience! A final word of advice to people who really feel strongly about these issues, just get the h*ll out of this great country that has worst ever (read kalyugi) race! Once you are out of this scum, you can do something about it…not while you are in it!

  4. Dear Shantanu

    Thanks for bringing this to my notice.

    When the British looted India they did so officially. There were precise official records of exactly who got how much. Except for the initial decades of British rule with people like Robert Clive, corruption was unheard of. No Swiss accounts had to be used. Everything was above board. As a result India lost a lot, but gained in terms of an honest, well managed bureaucracy (the best in the world without any doubt, in its time).

    People like Nehru arose to oppose the foreigners and took India back. And I admire his work in doing so.

    However, when Nehru’s children and grandchildren and great-grand-children have totally looted India, without any redeeming grace. They have destroyed the bureaucracy that the British built – corrupting EVERY organ of government. They have looted our self-respect, not just money.

    These are treasonous people who should be tried and hanged. What business do such people have to govern India? But the organs of government have been so corrupted that they wont’ even investigate these claims. It doesn’t take much time to investigate these claims. On ANY election, the amount spent so far exceeds the limits that if the Election Commission is serious about its role, it can suspend the entire Congress party immediately after ONE investigation. But it does not investigate such criminality.

    Having said this, it is not sufficient to write against these crooks. They have to be dislodged from power – but for that we need a major movement.

    FTI (http://freedomteam.in/) is looking for leaders for such a movement. It is time that the educated people of India fight to reclaim it from these looters.

    Regards
    Sanjeev

  5. Sid says:

    Well….there is nothing new I learnt. This is more rehash of what Swamy or Rajinder Puri were saying. Big deal!!! There is a commenter @ #3 who is trying to claim that Indians are most corrupt people on the earth and therefore Gandhis have the complete right to be super-corrupt. Why? They are Gandhis yaar, they should be considered one grade above the corrupt useless Indians. Now, wait for crypto-Gandhipujaris coming to claim that corruption does not matter or dedicated Gandhi-dases demanding third party proof of corruption (as if the Swiss magazine is not third party).
    To complete the story, it is not like Gandhis or their personal jaigir Congress party did not try to sue anyone. I know an Indian origin American who was sued by Congress party in the court of new jersey for claiming what Swamy has done recently. In his defense, the defendant cited Swiss magazine as his basis and the case was dismissed. After that Congress chose to remain silent on this presumably because it’s paid friends in the media would bully questioning public into silence. A friend in need is a friend indeed.
    We do not need another article exposing what has been exposed for a long time. The bigger question is how would you show the rot to those who would not open their eyes for the fear of confirming what they have suspected long? And why blame UPA alone? What did NDA do about Swiss accounts when they came to power? Advaniji made some sounds when Mitrokhin archive came out in 2005. Then for some odd reason he shut up. Why?
    For those who are bored with Swiss accounts, read the book on Mitrokhin archive. It details the relationship of KGB and Indian National Congress in very detail:
    http://books.google.com/books?id=4eSR1rHg5_YC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+world+is+going+our+way+India&source=bl&ots=VKxSSg-xcO&sig=u3pbFpyf-1lViwV6mmFkv2nPYhA&hl=en&ei=aokiTaPtHsaGnAev2KScDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

    Read and weep because that is what helpless do. A motherland that produce eunuchs who keep this party in power for more than half a century deserves to be looted. It is only natural.

  6. seadog4227 says:

    @ Sid:

    Remember Sid that the NDA is the ONLY non-KKkang govt to last for 5 years.
    They could not have taken care of so many issues simply because: (1)this was their first experience at governing at the centre (2) they needed to act and consolidate rather then go after political opponents (3)they had not yet got into a mindset where they wanted to browbeat and subjugate the Kkkangress and the Communists.
    There are telling comments by some journos as to how the then NDA govt never acted or behaved as viciously as the KKangress did and continues to do.

  7. Sid says:

    @seadog4227,

    There are telling comments by some journos as to how the then NDA govt never acted or behaved as viciously as the KKangress did and continues to do.

    That is precisely the point. This indicates that any stable government would adopt the Congressi disease.

  8. Sandeep says:

    @Sanjeev

    “People like Nehru arose to oppose the foreigners and took India back. And I admire his work in doing so.”

    As a die hard Macaulyite, you are duty bound to admire Nehru. Nothing strange about that.

  9. Prem says:

    @Sid,
    You got the message wrong my friend. I said “Since we, Indians, do it i.e. corruption, all the time, how can we selectively blame a few just on the basis of the volume (or the expertise)? Gandhis have acquired so much expertise in corruption that it is in their genes now. People complain because we do not get enough opportunities (to make money using corruption as a tool) or we do not possess required skills/contacts.” Politics is no different than a business/industry. If someone gets into and becomes successful, he passes it onto his successive generations. His kids have a legal right over what belonged to their father/mother….politics is being treated no differently. People make money by putting in their time and money just like we do it in our jobs/business. Politicians are smart they invest their time and money where they get the most bang for their buck!

    You want to change it? Good luck! This is not british raj where Gandhis can survive and flourish, this is Hitler raj where Gandhis would just evaporate even before acquiring any concrete life form.

  10. Indian says:

    Its not about corruption, but official tour for Pesident of India, Are they officialy entititled to do that? I read she takes many relatives with her.

    http://deshgujarat.com/2010/12/31/president-pratibha-patil-in-diu-on-seven-days-vacation/

    Pratibha Patil’s foreign tours during her Presidency
    November 26 to November 29, 2010 – The President’s visit to Syria
    November 21 to November 26, 2010 – The President’s visit to UAE
    September 13 to September 18, 2010 – The President’s visit to Cambodia
    September 09 to September 13, 2010 – The President’s visit to Laos
    May 26 to May 31, 2010 – The President’s visit to China
    October 29 to November 01, 2009 – The President’s visit to Cyprus
    October 26 to October 29, 2009 – The President’s visit to United Kingdom
    September 06 to September 08, 2009 – The President’s visit to Tajikistan
    September 02 to September 06, 2009 – The President’s visit to Russia
    April 23 to April 27, 2009 – The President’s visit to Poland
    April 20 to April 23, 2009 – The President’s visit to Spain
    November 29 to December 01, 2008 – The President’s visit to Indonesia
    November 24 to November 28, 2008 – The President’s visit to Vietnam
    November 05 to November 08, 2008 – The President’s visit to Bhutan
    April 20 to April 25, 2008 – The President’s visit to Chile
    April 16 to April 20, 2008 – The President’s visit to Mexico
    April 12 to April 16, 2008 – The President’s visit to Brazil

  11. Indian says:

    NO clue from where Swamy is getting this information.

    http://deshgujarat.com/2010/12/30/raja-ke-pichhe-rani-hai-swamy-says-sonias-2g-kickback-share-60/

    “The 2G scam involves Rs. 1,76,000 crore Rupees, but not all this amount went to kickbacks. In New Delhi the current rate of kick back is 35%. Out of this only 10% went to A.Raja, while Karunanidhi got 30%, and Sonia Gandhi was the highest gainer with 60%,” Shri Swamy said.
    He said, “Sonia has already made so much money that her stomach is full. And therefore the 2G scam money was sent to Anushka and Nadia, her two sisters settled in foreign land. The sisters have deposited the money to an account in Macaw.”

  12. hrishi says:

    Wonder why the Opposition has not made this into an issue for national debate – is this really true?? If so can anyone throw light on why this has not become a Bofors Gun to shoot the Gandhi family with…

  13. Kishan says:

    This is sensational and mind boggling. But Why is BJP keeping quiet ? Perhaps in the hope that when they come to power and loot the country the Congress will keep quite as a quid-pro-quo?
    And we can only hope for a miracle by which our country will be rid of these shameless and immoral politicians.

  14. Indian says:

    My take BJP doesnot know how to beat the opponent. It’s true, see how Congress toppled them when NDA was in power. If these many scams and ineffeciency would have been associated with NDA or BJP, Congress would have finished them by now. Congress is very shrewd when it times to play politics.

    Weak opponent!

  15. Prem says:

    @Kishan,
    I have already started devoting an hour a day to pray to God to take an Avatar and perform such a miracle! Additionally, I am also thinking of performing a yagya/havan (multiple if required) to have India get rid of these dirty Politicians. Do you think that is enough, or is there something more I should do?

  16. Morris says:

    My guess is that all those who are in position of power and can expose these Gandhis are also corrupt. They are afraid of getting caught themselves. This must be true about those in position of power in media as well. The same media that keep repeating Modi’s involvemnet in Gujarat riots say nothing about Gandhis’ corruption. Poor Modi, he does not have any clout.
    It seems to me that the country is corrupt to the core. I am glad I am out of it.

  17. B Shantanu says:

    By the way, Bofors was not the first allegation of corruption against Rajiv Gandhi…

    Courtesy, CenterofRight, please read: “Son of Gandhi” received payments

  18. B Shantanu says:

    Excerpts from World’s #9 Most Powerful Person Now Accused of Corruption — Will She Fall? by Cleo Paskal:

    However there have been growing, persistent murmurs about questionable business deals and inexplicable exponential jumps in the personal wealth of her and her family.

    The allegations came out in the open in 1995 when M. D. Nalapat, then Resident Editor (Delhi) of the world’s largest English language newspaper, the Times of India, began a groundbreaking series of articles about Sonia.

    The articles made the controversial (at the time) claim that the public docility was just a ploy, and that Sonia actually had serious political ambitions (later confirmed by her role in Congress). Also, crucially, the series said that her desire for power wasn’t simply altruistic and that the wealth not only of her, but of her Italian relatives, rose stratospherically after Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister in 1984.

    Nalapat’s articles could not be ignored as he was one of India’s most respected journalists and had, throughout his career, taken on corrupt politicians, social inequity and institutionalized discrimination.

    This however was a ‘topic too far’. While the facts in the article were never refuted, Nalapat was forced out of journalism in 1998 and moved into academics.

    Next came public questions from another highly reputed source, Sten Lindstrom, Sweden’s special prosecutor investigating the pay-offs associated with the sale of weapons by Bofors to the government of India. His investigation showed that a close friend of Sonia’s, Ottavio Quattrocchi, has received kickbacks in the millions.
    ….
    In 1998 Lindstrom gave an interview in which he said:

    the Gandhis, particularly now Sonia, should explain how Quattrocchi-owned companies got such fat sums as payoffs from the Bofors deal. After all, what is the connection of Sonia and the Gandhi family to Quattrocchi? Who introduced Quattrocchi and his AE Services to Bofors? At least one thing is certainly known now. A part of the payoffs definitely went to Quattrocchi. […] the papers all pointed to the Gandhi family.

    Not only have the questions not been answered by Sonia, but in spite of substantial evidence against him, Quattrocchi has managed to evade prosecution in India, and has even had his kickback funds unfrozen from overseas accounts.

    Part of the genius of Sonia Gandhi is her ability to present herself as a helpless victim, convincing even her political rivals not to fear her as she is fatally flawed. In 1998, India was being led by BJP Prime Minister Vajpayee. When Nalapat spoke with him about Sonia, he was bluntly told to lay off, as, “so long as a white Christian lady is head of the Congress Party, I [Vajpayee] and my party will always be in power”. Vajpayee and his party lost power to Sonia’s Congress in 2004.

    But the most serious threat to Sonia — and, as she is at the apex of the Congress Party, and so to Congress itself — is now lying on the desk of #18, the Prime Minister of India.

    On April 15, former Law and Justice Minister and Harvard Professor Dr. Subramanian Swamy asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for leave to lay corruption charges against Sonia Gandhi. In a meticulously researched 200+ page submission Dr Swamy alleges Sonia Gandhi has been involved in corruption in India since 1972 and personally benefited from the Bofors scam (1986), has held billions in non-Indian bank accounts since at least 1991, illegally profited from the Iraqi oil-for-food deals (2002), and even accessed KGB payoffs during the Cold War.

  19. Sandeep says:

    Pls read
    http://www.vigilonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1529&Itemid=1

    http://www.vigilonline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1528&Itemid=1

    “NGO acts as a mouthpiece for foreign donors, expressing their point of view as “Indian opinon”, an example being a well-funded NGO run by a former naval officer who joins many others in faithfully parroting any line that is fed to him by US or EU agencies during the many occasions when he gets invited there to nod approvingly at the grotesque policy prescriptions that they adopt for India.”

    “Clearly, Robert Vadra or Karthik Chidambaram are young men in a hurry to join the same pantheon inhabitated by Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, an understandable objective for two such capable youngsters. ”

    “Because of the fear of getting harassed by the Intelligence Bureau (which has reverted to the Nehru era days by becoming a house agency for the Ruling Family) or the Income-tax authorities, media houses do not examine the activities of VVIPs the way it happens in civilized countries such as the UK or the US. Indeed,the Supreme Court of India has just decreed that the religion followed by Sonia Gandhi is not a matter that the public should be aware of.”

  20. Sanjay Patel says:

    India’s politicians are destroying India weak judiciary system.

    The core of corruption should dis-mental from top with strong law and other Will eventually follow furthermore, and India black money trail will be easy to track.

  21. B Shantanu says:

    Sadly, Bofors does not appear to be the only one…Excerts from Airbus’s secret pastdating back to Jun 12th 2003:
    …What about cases where police have carried out investigations? In March 1990 India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a first information report (FIR). It was investigating allegations that Airbus had bribed highly placed public servants and others to induce Indian Airlines (IA) to order its aircraft.

    In March 1986 state-owned IA had ordered 19 Airbus A320s, worth $952m, with an option for 12 more, later exercised. This was despite the fact that, when IA set up a committee in 1983 to recommend replacement aircraft for its ageing Boeing fleet, the A320 was not considered—it had not then been launched or flown. With approval from the Indian government, IA had in July 1984 paid Boeing a deposit for 12 Boeing 757s, large narrow-bodied aircraft.

    Several civil servants and IA officials were named in the FIR. One name not on the list was that of Rajiv Gandhi, India’s prime minister in 1984-89, who was killed in a bomb explosion in May 1991.

    How has the CBI’s investigation progressed in the intervening 13 years? Hardly at all, despite the hounding on public-interest grounds of the CBI in Delhi’s High Court since 1998 by B.L. Wadehra, an anti-corruption lawyer based in Delhi. The Economist has examined the publicly available court documents—the CBI’s status reports on its investigation are secret— from Mr Wadehra’s litigation.

    These papers allege, first, that in October 1984, weeks before Mr Gandhi, a former pilot, succeeded his mother, IA received an offer from Airbus for A320 aircraft, a smaller and less expensive plane than Boeing’s 757. It required urgent attention. Second, that in November, the aviation ministry gave IA just three days to appraise the offer for Mr Gandhi’s office.

    Much later, in 1990, Indian Express, an Indian newspaper, reported a leaked manuscript note which showed that Mr Gandhi had decided at a meeting on August 2nd 1985 that IA “should go in for Airbus A320 aircraft”.

    Rajiv Gandhi decided in 1985 that Indian Airlines “should go in for Airbus A320 aircraft”. His correspondence file on the deal mysteriously vanished
    Mr Gandhi’s correspondence file on the deal mysteriously vanished. The court papers show that civil servants reconstructed 29 pages of the missing file for the CBI by obtaining copy correspondence from government departments. Remarkably, this task took seven years—and even then the reconstruction was only partial.

    After the green light from Mr Gandhi, approvals from IA and government bodies were a formality. For instance, the IA board approved the Airbus order at a meeting on August 30th 1985, which started at noon. The quality of the analysis presented to the board on the competing offers was pitiful. The board considered only one criterion—comparative fuel efficiency. Even for that, the data were incomplete. The A320 with the engine chosen by IA had yet to be tried and tested anywhere; provisional data only were included in the report for Boeing 737s “since no technical data supplied by the company”.

    But Boeing had not been asked for any. This was because two hours before the board meeting, at 9.50am, IA’s managing director, who is named in the FIR as an alleged recipient of kickbacks, received a letter from Richard Elliott, then Boeing’s regional sales director. Boeing offered to supply up to 35 of its 737 aircraft, its narrow-bodied rival to the A320, with a discount of $5m per plane. This would reduce IA’s investment in new planes by $140m, stated Mr Elliott. IA’s board brushed the offer aside on the grounds that “if Boeing was [sic] too serious…they [sic] could have made the offer earlier”.

    The Delhi court has a withering opinion of the help Airbus has given the CBI. It allowed Mr Wadehra to add Airbus’s Indian subsidiary to his action on the grounds that Airbus in France was not co-operating. Airbus told Mr Wadehra that French law forbade it from answering his questions. “[Airbus] sells its aircraft on their merits,” the firm insisted.

    The court has castigated the CBI for its dilatory approach. It took the Indian authorities until 1995 to contact Airbus for information, only to be told that such requests should be routed through the French government. The CBI told Mr Wadehra, despite trying Interpol and diplomatic channels, it was not getting any help from the French government. The French embassy in Delhi in effect told Mr Wadehra to get lost when he wrote to ask why France was not co-operating.

    Mr Wadehra’s case is now topical. This is because in March last year, IA’s board approved an order for 43 Airbus planes, worth around $2 billion. The order now needs government approval. However, in September 2000, the Delhi court ruled that the Indian government should not approve further purchases from Airbus until the CBI had obtained the information it wanted from the French.

    The upshot of the IA story is that no serious attempt has been made to establish whether or not Airbus paid kickbacks to Mr Gandhi and associates. The CBI has not answered our written questions.

    Also read: “Daylight rape of public interest” – excerpts

  22. B Shantanu says:

    From Will Congress & BJP defend the honour of Rajiv Gandhi? by MR Venkatesh, June 25, 2012 (emphasis added):

    …In this connection the most shocking media expose on this subject came from Schweizer Illustrierte, a Swiss magazine of repute which carried an expose of 14 politicians of developing nations who, it said, had stashed their illicit wealth in Swiss banks (issue dated November 11, 1991).

    Interestingly, one of the 14 happened to be Rajiv Gandhi, the late PM of India who had been assassinated six months prior to this expose. The report under his photo, read: “2.5 billion francs on the Indian secret accounts in Switzerland” of “Rajiv Gandhi, Indian.” That would, according to rough estimates, be equivalent to USD 10 -15 billions (Rs 55,000-90,000 crores) today.

    …While all those who are named in the story are now no more in power or even alive, the fact of the matter is that there is no genuine attempt either by the respective governments or by the Bank to recover the stolen wealth of those named by the Schweizer Illustrierte in its story. Why? The answer to this question is the crux of the issue.

    …Despite the staggering amounts mentioned (remember that these amounts are staggering even after two decades) in this article, the fact remains that not one government from these countries have recovered the illicit wealth of their leaders, even after their fall.
    …While most of the leaders mentioned in the story were dictators / despots there was one honorable exception – Rajiv Gandhi. He was perhaps the only one to figure in the story from a democratic country. Unfortunately he was dead by the time the story was published in November 1991 to accept or deny the story.

    Yet the Congress party has not denied or accepted this story to this day. Stranger still, the story gained traction a decade later in India in 2002 when the irrepressible Dr. Subramanian Swamy pointed out the same in the local media. By then the NDA was firmly in saddle. Yet it too did precious little to get to the bottom of the matter.

    ..can the Congress and BJP who have been partners in eloquent silence till now defend the honour of late Rajiv Gandhi by filing defamation case against Schweizer Illustrierte in Switzerland? Such an action will be the first step in recovering the stolen wealth from India. Should Schweizer Illustrierte fail to come up with evidence, at-least the honour of Rajiv will be restored.

  23. B Shantanu says:

    Placing this here for the record: THE QUATTROCCHI GRAVY TRAIN by CHITRA SUBRAMANIAM DUELLA, JULY 16, 2013