India will not get last set of Bofors papers till year-end
The last set of secret bank documents on the alleged
Rs 640 million payoffs in the Bofors gun deal is unlikely
to be handed over to India before the year-end, Swiss police vice-chief Rudolf Wyss,
who is in New Delhi in connection with the Interpol conference,
said.
The Swiss authorities had, on the directive of the federal court
in Geneva, initiated the process for an out-of-court settlement on
the issue. Even if this comes about, the documents were likely
to be passed on to India only by December.
Central Bureau of Investigation sources, however, said
such a settlement was unlikely as the appellant, who had
been opposing the handing over of the documents for
several years, would not agree to such a proposition.
He would in all probability use the process only to
further delay the transfer of the bank documents, they said.
The five sets of documents brought to India in January had
shown Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife Maria,
former Bofors agent Win Chadha, his late wife Kanta and son Harsh
as the beneficiaries of the payoffs.
Wyss said the Swiss authorities were not concerned about the
pace of the CBI investigations in the Bofors case and this would
not come in the way of handing over the last set of
documents.
UNI
EARLIER REPORT:
Bofors investigation grinds to a halt
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