The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a judicial request to the United States seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who has previously expressed willingness to share crucial details about the Rs 64-crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s.
Hershman, head of the Fairfax Group, visited India in 2017 for a private detective conference.
During his stay, he made public allegations that the investigation into the Bofors case had been derailed by the then Congress-led government.
He also expressed readiness to assist the CBI with relevant information.
In a previous interview, Hershman claimed he was engaged by the Union Finance Ministry in 1986 to investigate currency control violations, money laundering by Indians abroad, and the tracking of offshore assets, some of which were linked to the Bofors deal.
The CBI, in its bid to verify his claims, had approached the Finance Ministry for documentation related to Hershman's engagement and any reports he may have submitted. However, records from that period were unavailable.
In 2017, the agency acknowledged Hershman's assertions and announced that due process would be followed to investigate the matter.
Since then, multiple communications were sent to US authorities on November 8, 2023, December 21, 2023, May 13, 2024, and August 14, 2024, but yielded no substantial response.
Also read: Bofors Scam: CBI to send judicial request to US for info
The necessity for Letters Rogatory (LR) arose from this lack of progress. An LR is a formal judicial request issued by a court in one country to a court in another country for assistance in investigating or prosecuting a criminal case. The CBI had also sought Interpol’s help, but without success.
On January 14 this year, the Home Ministry approved the agency’s request to send an LR to the US. Subsequently, a Special Court was informed and cleared the CBI’s LR application on February 11.
"In order to collect both documentary and oral evidence related to the claims made by Michael Hershman, an investigation in the United States is necessary," the Special Court noted while granting clearance for the request.
The Bofors case dates back to 1990 when the CBI registered a case, three years after a Swedish radio channel alleged that bribes had been paid by Bofors to Indian politicians and defence officials to secure a Rs 1,437-crore deal for the supply of 400 155mm field Howitzers.
The deal sparked a major controversy, leading to political upheaval and long-standing allegations against the Rajiv Gandhi-led government.
The CBI filed chargesheets in 1999 and 2000, but the Delhi High Court exonerated Rajiv Gandhi in 2004, over a decade after his assassination by the LTTE in 1991.
A year later, in 2005, the High Court dismissed all charges against other accused, stating that the CBI had failed to establish that payments made by Bofors through Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi were bribes intended for Indian public servants.
In 2018, the CBI sought to challenge the High Court’s 2005 decision in the Supreme Court. However, the apex court dismissed the appeal due to procedural delays.
Despite this, it permitted advocate Ajay Aggarwal’s 2005 appeal to continue, allowing all relevant arguments to be raised in that case.
The latest move by the CBI reflects its continued efforts to pursue the decades-old case, despite legal setbacks and the passage of time.
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