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The Delhi High Court Friday asked the Hinduja brothers, accused in the Rs 64 crore (Rs 640 million) Bofors kickback case, to place on record details of their Swiss bank accounts and investments in various companies.
Justice S K Agarwal also asked S P Hinduja, P P Hinduja and G P Hinduja to file affidavits detailing individual assets -- moveable as well as immoveable -- in Europe and India.
Their counsel Kapil Sibal said all details will be filed before the court by March 12.
Justice Agarwal meanwhile asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to state if the trial of Europe-based billionaire brothers can be segregated from other accused in the case. The case will now come up for directions on March 16.
On March 1, the court had summoned trial court records relating to the involvement of three Hinduja brothers who have been charged with receiving 81 million Swedish kroners from arms manufacturer AB Bofors for fixing the Rs 14.37 billion deal for 155 mm Howitzer guns in 1986.
On February 26, the court had reserved its order on a plea by the Hindujas seeking permission to go abroad for carrying out their global businesses. Their counsel Kapil Sibal said the accused are ready to give bank guarantees to ensure that they will come back to India whenever the trial court desires.
Justice Agarwal said Rajinder Singh, another counsel for Hindujas, had stated in previous hearings that the money allegedly received from Bofors was lying intact in three Swiss bank accounts. On the other hand, the judge said, Sibal is producing a certificate from Ernst and Young which shows that the money has been invested in various Hinduja companies.
The judge asked the matter to be clarified.
On February 1, the trial court had dismissed a request by the controversial brothers to visit their respective homes in Europe.
The CBI, while urging the court to detain the accused and impound their passports, has said the Hindujas were evasive and did not fully co-operate with investigators during interrogation.
According to CBI counsel N Natarajan, documents obtained from Swiss authorities show their involvement in the Bofors gun deal and that the money paid as kickbacks was deposited in their accounts.
The three brothers first appeared before the trial court on January 19 subsequent to the court issuing summons against them, after taking cognisance of the CBI charge-sheet filed on October 12 last year.
Additional sessions judge Ajit Bharihoke granted them bail but directed them to appear before the CBI for interrogation. They were also told not to leave the country without the court's permission.
The CBI had sought the clarifications from Swiss authorities principally because although the bank documents showed nine separate payments made by Bofors of a little over 80 million Swedish kroner into three Hinduja code-named accounts (Lotus, Tulip and Mont Blanc), they did not specifically mention or reveal that these amounts were commissions paid in respect to the Indian howitzer contract.
In contrast, the other batch of Swiss bank documents -- which related to the Win Chadha-fronted Svenska Limited and the Ottavio Quattrocchi-fronted AE Services -- had made the connection between the Bofors payments and the Howizter contract quite clear.
According to press reports, the CBI had requested eight different sets of documentation from Swiss authorities which the agency claimed is required for reaching a logical conclusion.
Most of the requested additional information concerns the Panamanian-registered and Hinduja-owned McIntyre Corporation in whose three code-named accounts (Mont Blanc at Credit Suisse, Lotus at Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Tulip at Swiss Bank Corporation) the nine payments were made by Bofors between May 22, 1986 and December 18, 1986.
The information sought included details about subsequent transfers from the three code-named accounts until the said amounts were transferred out of Swiss jurisdiction, documents showing the details of beneficial owners of McIntyre Corporation and advice slips from the bankers of Bofors transferring money into the three accounts.
The Hindujas have, in the past, admitted ownership of McIntyre Corporation and the fact that nine payments were made by Bofors into the code-named accounts. Their differences have narrowed down to the question of whether these payments were related to the Indian Howitzer contract, which they continue to strongly deny.
UNI
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