<p>Swedish whistleblower on the Bofors guns scam, Sten Lindstrom, gave a clean chit to the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi with regard to kickbacks in the deal but said he did nothing to prevent a massive cover-up later.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In an interview to thehoot.org website, the former Swedish police chief, who probed Bofors artillery guns scam in his country, absolved Rajiv Gandhi of taking bribe in the scandalous deal that made news in 1987 and brought down his government in 1989. Lindstrom said: “There was no evidence that he had received any bribe.”<br /><br />Lindstrom, however, added that Rajiv Gandhi did nothing to prevent the massive cover-up that followed to protect the main accused – Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.<br /><br />“But he watched the massive cover-up in India and Sweden and did nothing,” Lindstrom said adding that “the evidence against Ottavio Quattrocchi was conclusive. Through a front company called A E Services, bribes paid by Bofors landed in Quattrocchi’s account which he subsequently cleaned out because India said there was no evidence linking him to the Bofors deal. Nobody in Sweden or Switzerland was allowed to interrogate him,” he said.<br /><br />He also revealed that Martin Ardbo, Managing Director of Bofors “was terrified about the fact (of payments to Quattrocchi) becoming public. He had hidden it even from his own marketing director. Ardbo had written in his notes that...at no cost the identity of Q (Quattrocchi) be revealed because of his closeness to R (Rajiv Gandhi). He had also mentioned a meeting between A E Services official and a Gandhi trust lawyer in Geneva.”<br /><br />Proceedings against Quattrocchi were dropped after the Delhi High Court in 2011 accepted the plea of Central Bureau of Investigation to drop the case.</p>
<p>Swedish whistleblower on the Bofors guns scam, Sten Lindstrom, gave a clean chit to the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi with regard to kickbacks in the deal but said he did nothing to prevent a massive cover-up later.<br /><br /></p>.<p>In an interview to thehoot.org website, the former Swedish police chief, who probed Bofors artillery guns scam in his country, absolved Rajiv Gandhi of taking bribe in the scandalous deal that made news in 1987 and brought down his government in 1989. Lindstrom said: “There was no evidence that he had received any bribe.”<br /><br />Lindstrom, however, added that Rajiv Gandhi did nothing to prevent the massive cover-up that followed to protect the main accused – Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.<br /><br />“But he watched the massive cover-up in India and Sweden and did nothing,” Lindstrom said adding that “the evidence against Ottavio Quattrocchi was conclusive. Through a front company called A E Services, bribes paid by Bofors landed in Quattrocchi’s account which he subsequently cleaned out because India said there was no evidence linking him to the Bofors deal. Nobody in Sweden or Switzerland was allowed to interrogate him,” he said.<br /><br />He also revealed that Martin Ardbo, Managing Director of Bofors “was terrified about the fact (of payments to Quattrocchi) becoming public. He had hidden it even from his own marketing director. Ardbo had written in his notes that...at no cost the identity of Q (Quattrocchi) be revealed because of his closeness to R (Rajiv Gandhi). He had also mentioned a meeting between A E Services official and a Gandhi trust lawyer in Geneva.”<br /><br />Proceedings against Quattrocchi were dropped after the Delhi High Court in 2011 accepted the plea of Central Bureau of Investigation to drop the case.</p>
