Bofors watchers were taken aback by the choice of the senior legal officer to argue on behalf of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Ottavio Quattrocchi case.

During the hearings in the Tis Hazari courts on the withdrawal of Red Corner Notice against the Italian businessman and on the plea for withdrawing charges against him, it was Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra who argued before the magistrate. Malhotra was earlier associated with the Bofors case—in his capacity as defence counsel for prime accused Win Chadha in a case being pursued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).

That is not all. After Win Chadha’s office in Delhi’s Vasant Vihar was raided by the ED on June 5, 1987, Malhotra was embroiled in a controversy following which an ED team “visited” his residence and took possession of a bunch of documents. While Chadha himself was not in the country when his office was raided, he subsequently tried to dispose of some properties and it was the Power of Attorney papers that were voluntarily handed over to the Enforcement Directorate team by Malhotra (after he was requested to do so by the ED).

The Delhi High Court Bar Association proceeded on a short token strike in support of Malhotra. Subsequently, in January 1988, Malhotra flew to New York and was by the side of his client when Win Chadha was questioned by ED officers on the Howitzer and other defence deals.

Malhotra says appearing for the CBI in the Bofors case is not conflict of interest. “Yes, I went to New York and the ED team had come to my residence in connection with the Win Chadha case. The Bar Association had even protested against that,” he told The Indian Express. “But till that time the chargesheet had not even been filed in the Bofors case ( it was filed in 1999) and in any case, nothing came out of the ED case.”

... contd.