The Bofors controversy, that alleged that Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was part of a corrupt kickback deal, will not die down. Political leaders and parties often collect funds surreptitiously — but they claim that it is for the party’s political work. But in Bofors, allegations of the PM’s direct involvement raised the slogan: “Raja chor hai: The King himself is a thief”. Today, the Quattrochi controversy invites the menacing allegation: “Maharani bhi chor hai: The Queen too is a thief”. Now Quattrochi’s (Q) expired Red Corner Notice has been dropped at the instance of the Attorney General (AG) Milon Banerjee, absolving both Q and Maharani.

The story of Bofors is the story of apparent cover-ups. In 1987, the a parliamentary committee absolved Rajiv. In 1993, Congress allowed Q to escape. Around 1999, Sonia Gandhi defended Q, turning a blind eye to judicial verdicts and information about his involvement. Efforts to catch Q in Malaysia and then Argentina failed — the latter, in 2007, due to CBI ineptitude. In 2006, his accounts in London were de-frozen. Congress regimes have been half-hearted over Q. In November 2008, AG Banerjee recommended that the RCN be dropped. Now, PM Manmohan Singh has embarrassingly defended that on the spurious ground that foreign courts have not extradited Q. But that was because India did not present a proper case.

Central to this controversy has been the elusive figure of AG Banerjee, who owes this post to Law Minister Bharadwaj and 10 Janpath. During Narasimha Rao’s tenure, Banerjee’s role as AG was not distinguished. Now, he rarely appears in court. The two occasions that I can remember in 2007-08 were his appearances in the Punjab-Haryana case to ask for adjournments! When the Supreme Court wants the AG to advise the court, they now ask Solicitor General (SG) Vahanvati and others. The AG’s office has virtually fallen into disuse; and, now, allegedly, into disrepute.

... contd.