Sweden called off Bofors probe to save Rajiv from 'embarrassment': CIA report
Declassified CIA files also say that Sweden's investigation into bribes paid to its officials was stopped after Rajiv Gandhi made a visit.
New Delhi: A recently declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) report has said that Sweden called off its investigation into the Bofors arms scandal in order to save former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi from ‘embarrassment’.
According to an NDTV report, the CIA files also say that Sweden’s investigation into bribes allegedly paid to its officials was terminated after Rajiv made a visit to Stockholm in 1988.
The scandal, which surfaced in the late 1980s, was based on allegations that Swedish defence manufacturer Bofors paid huge kickbacks to Rajiv Gandhi and others for the sale of its artillery gun to India.
However, in 2004, a Delhi court said that there was no evidence of Rajiv Gandhi’s involvement in the scandal.
The CIA report is titled "Sweden's Bofors Arms Scandal". The agency said the company allegedly bribed Indian middlemen and officials in connection with New Delhi's Rs 100 billion purchase of 155mm Howitzers.
The report added that Swedish investigators conducted a national audit of Bofors' transactions with India. The audit indicated that as much as 40 million dollars were paid in commissions to middlemen.
The agency also noted that Bofors “almost certainly made payments - either straight to Indian officials, or to middlemen who in turn paid off officials.”
“Word of the pay-offs leaked, sparking domestic difficulties for Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Stockholm wanted to save Gandhi the troubles caused him by the Swedish leak, and Nobel industries wanted to avoid a bribery indictment. The two sides cooperated, therefore, on a scheme to keep details of the payment secret. Stockholm eventually called off the entire bribery investigation,” the report concludes.