Quattrocchi is dead issue

Embarrassment?
A real disgrace, Mr Prime Minister
The public perception of him being a political simpleton is something which little troubles Dr Manmohan Singh, indeed it often facilitates his defending the indefensible. Yet does that entitle him to insult the intelligence of the Indian people? He has certainly done so by averring that the international alert for Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi for involvement in the Bofors kickbacks has been dropped because it floundered in Malaysian and Argentine courts, and thereafter Interpol questioned its continuance.
As first a senior bureaucrat, and then a member of government, Dr Singh must be fully aware that those setbacks were engineered from within. From day one, the Indian investigation apparatus followed political directives in a cynical campaign to keep the truth camouflaged.
Long before Malaysia and Argentina came into the picture ~ remember that Quattrocchi did not play a solo part in a scandal that refuses to fade away ~ authorities in Sweden and Switzerland had questioned the sincerity with which India was pursuing the probe. Not to mention the exasperation often expressed by judicial officers at home.
It is not the inability to convince courts abroad that amounts to a national shame ~ which the Prime Minister trivializes as “embarrassment” ~ but the strong signals from Congress-led governments that nailing the crooks was not on the agenda. True there have been governments of other political complexion before Dr Manmohan Singh’s but when crucial evidence is overlooked in the initial phase of an investigation ~ hence the importance attached to First Information Reports ~ it is well nigh impossible to retrieve what has been deliberately buried.
There can be no underestimating what Bofors has cost India: actually not just India, there are suspicions pertaining to the assassination of Olaf Palme. It cost Rajiv Gandhi the trust and services of friend-turned-minister Arun Singh. The institution of Parliament suffered a body blow when its first investigative joint committee came up with nothing more than the siphoning off of a token Rs 64 crore for which arms-agent Win Chadha was made the fall guy. That a Prime Minister was unable to shake off allegations of personal corruption has meant that the probity of government at large stands corroded for all time.
The defence procurement system remains paralysed, unable to redeem its unclean reputation. For quite some time Dr Manmohan Singh succeeded in “sitting out” this one, but in opting to tango in tandem with his law minister he has emphatically underscored the tenet that members of this Cabinet serve at the pleasure of the Congress president.

Ottavio Quattrocchi is dead issue: Rahul Gandhi

New Delhi: Even as the Congress is facing criticism from the opposition after CBI removed Ottavio Quattrocchi from its most wanted list, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said it is a "dead issue" which is repeatedly raised ahead of every election.

"It is an embarrassment (that it is raised repeatedly). It is a dead issue. It is repeatedly raised. It is finished. There is no interest (in the issue)," Gandhi told a press conference here.

He was responding to a question why the Bofors case is raked up repeatedly ahead of every election and whether it was an embarrassment to the party and the Gandhi family.

The CBI had recently dropped the name of Italian businessman Quattrocchi, accused of receiving kickbacks in procuring Bofors guns for the armed forces, from its red-corner list.

Prime minister Manmohan Singh had earlier said India would be "looked down" by the world community if the red corner notice against Quattrocchi was not removed.

To a question whether CBI is being misused by ruling regime, the 39-year-old Amethi MP said it was a "systematic issue" and it was not a question of one particular agency.

"Every party which is in power could put pressure on institutions. It is a fact," he said, adding that every government try to push its people into such agencies.

The first is an Editorial from "The Statesman"
The second is about Rahul Gandhi's interview.
I was rather surprised this time that the Bofors issue had not been raised by any political party.
But then that tail wagging dog, CBI, gave them the issue on a goldden platter.
What was the need to instruct Interpol to withdraw the RC alert of Quattrocchi without going through the legal process?
Probably the congress thought this was the most appropriate time as they were not sure whether they would come back after the elections and madamme wanted to protect her countryman.And then since the opposition had not raised it till now, they thought the opposition had forgotten about it, as Rahul said "a dead issue".
In a way, Rahul is right.
All corruption issues are dead issue because they are dead even before they arise because of co-operation between the political parties.

Radheshyam