Thursday, January 12 2006 19:19 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Seeking to revive the Bofors ghost, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today (Jan 12, 2006) charged Law Minister H R Bhardwaj with 'trying to scuttle' investigation in the case by saying there was no link between the Bofors pay offs and the money in two British accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi.

The party asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to tell the nation whether it was done with his concurrence.

"The minister's action has exposed the complete lack of ethics and morality of the UPA Government. The Law Minister has acted without the authority of the Law. He has tried to scuttle the investigations as the Bofors chargesheet against Quattrochi is still pending", party General Secretary and Spokesman Arun Jaitley told reporters here.

Recalling that the then External Affairs Minister Madhavsinh Solanki had to resign after he handed over a memorandum to the Swiss authorities requesting them not to assist Indian authorities, Jaitley said, "was this act of tinkering with the judicial process and helping a person who has caused wrongful loss to the Government of India done with the knowledge and concurrence of the Prime Minister. The country expects a straightforward answer".

"The close proximity of Quattrochi with the Gandhi family is well-known. He had shifted to India soon after the marriage of Rajiv Gandhi with Sonia and had become the principal representative of an Italian company Sma Progett in India for several years. His close connections with the Gandhi family were never in doubt. His political clout helped his company immensely", Jaitley alleged.

"What was the un-seeming haste that he must get the kickback? Did this money have to be passed on by Quattrochi to someone in whom this Government is interested?," he asked.