New Delhi: The CBI has sent a judicial request to the US, seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman who had expressed willingness to share with Indian agencies crucial details about the Rs 64 Crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s, ThePrint has learnt.
A Letter Rogatory (LR) was sent to the US Justice Department after it was issued by a Special Court here, last month.
A Letter Rogatory is a written request sent by the court of one country to the court of another country to obtain assistance in the investigation or prosecution of a criminal matter.
Hershman, who heads the Fairfax Group, visited India in 2017 to attend a conference of private detectives and had appeared on various platforms claiming that the investigation into the scam was derailed by the Congress government. He has said that he was willing to share the details with the CBI in this regard.
The CBI had then taken note of his claims and had informed a special court that it plans to reopen the investigation in the light of Hershman’s revelations. The case was closed by the CBI in 2011.
The CBI had also sought information from the US authorities in November 2023, December 2023, May 2024, and August 2024, but did not receive any information.
“Details have been sought and a formal request has now been sent for the same,” a source in the CBI confirmed.
“During investigation of the case, LRs were also sent to Switzerland and details were obtained. It is part of the procedure,” the source said.
The Delhi High Court had exonerated former PM Rajiv Gandhi in 2004 and a year later charges against all others were also quashed. Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the alleged middleman in the payoff case, was also discharged in 2011.
The case involves allegations of a Rs 64-crore bribe in a Rs 1,437-crore deal with Swedish firm Bofors in the 1980s during the then Congress government for the supply of 400 155mm field howitzers, which played a significant role in India’s victory during the Kargil war. The CBI had registered the case in 1990.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: Bofors scandal – When Rajiv Gandhi’s biggest opposition was a swarm of angry journalists