New Delhi: The Europe-based Hinduja brothers on October 23 claimed before a Delhi court that the then Minister of State for Defence Arun Singh had termed Bofors as a better gun system and there was nothing wrong in the Rs 1,437.72 crore deal being awarded to the Swedish arms manufacturer.

"It means even before February 17, 1987, when General A Sunderji reversed his opinion in favour of Bofors, there were people who favoured Bofors," Hindujas' counsel Amit Desai told special judge Prem Kumar, who is hearing arguments on charge in the politically sensitive case.

Arun Singh, a childhood friend of the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, had joined the government in September 1985, but put in his papers in July 1987 after the news about alleged payment of kickbacks to politicians in the Bofors deal broke.

Quoting from the statement of Lt General T P Singh, Desai said, "This negates CBI's allegation that General Sunderji took a "U" turn after taking over as the Chief of Army Staff on February one, 1987."

Regarding agents having been engaged in the deal, Desai said, "If Bofors directly entered into negotiations with the government of India and if it considerably reduced its price by Rs 300 crore, it certainly implies that there were no agents in the deal."

"Action speaks louder than anything else," he said, adding that there was nothing to link the Hinduja brothers with this case.

PTI