Monday 27 May 2019

The Bofors Scandal

One of the biggest political scams in India took place between the 1980s and 1990s between Sweden and India around a weapons contract and illegal illicit payments being made to a number of public servants and private investors in India.  It was referred to as the Bofors Scandal and the investigation into it lasted 31 years.


What was the Bofors Scandal?

In March of 1986, a contract was signed between Bofors, a Swedish arms manufacturer, and the Indian Government, for 410 Howitzer guns to be supplied to the Indian army.  One year later, allegations were made by a Swedish radio station that Bofors had bribed a number of top politicians, including the Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, and defense personnel in India as a means of securing the contract.


At the beginning of 1990, an F.I.R (First Information Report) was lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigations against Bofors president, Martin Ardbo for forgery, cheating, and criminal conspiracy.  Included in these charges were middlemen Win Chadda and the Hinduja brothers.

The allegations stated that, between 1982 and 1987, a criminal conspiracy was entered into by a number of private individuals and public servants in both India and abroad.  At the time of the conspiracy, a number of illegal actions took place, including bribery, forgery, corruption, and cheating.


The first sheet of charges, in this case, was filed in October of 1999 against the following:

Win Chadda – an agent of the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors.

S.K. Bhatnagar – former defense secretary of India 

Ottavio Quattrocchi – Italian businessman who was the conduit for bribes in this case 

Martin Ardbo – president of Bofors

Rajiv Gandhi - former Indian prime minister 

Bofors company – Swedish arms manufacturer that paid illegal bribes to those involved

A secondary sheet was also made against Gopichand, Srichand, and Prakash Hinduja of Hinduja Group.


The Motive Behind the Bofors Scandal

There were two main motives surrounding the Bofors scandal.  For India, it was shown that Rajiv Gandhi wanted to use the commission from Bofors exclusively for meeting the expenses involved with running the Congress party.  However, upon investigation by the Swedish police, nothing was found to suggest that Gandhi had ever received any payments.  He was, however, guilty about having the knowledge that these illicit payments were happening and not taking action to report them.


For the Swedish gun manufacturer, a deal that would give them £802 million was far too good to pass up.  In their desperation to win the bid on this lucrative deal, they bribed many politicians to forge documents that would quickly pass the deal through and ensure that they won the bid.

It was also of the opinion that the Bofors scandal was created by those who wanted to see the continuation of the monopoly that the Soviet Union had over selling weapons and arms to India.  This was something that Rajiv Gandhi wanted to change, allowing purchases from other countries that he felt would be priced competitively.  The Bofors scandal had a large impact on politics in subsequent elections, all of which eventually led to Congress losing power.

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