If there is one area where we have progressed by leaps and bounds, besides economic growth, then corruption takes the grandstand. The latest revelation, by the income-tax appellate tribunal, has held that kickbacks were paid to the late Win Chadha (`52 crore) and Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi (`9 crore) in the Howitzer guns deal worth `1,437 crore. The government at that time insisted that no commissions or kickbacks were paid when the Swedish media revealed that kickbacks were paid. The tribunal was giving its judgment in the case of Win Chadha’s son, who challenged the income-tax department’s demand for tax on the commissions received. Chadha’s son maintained that the commissions were not liable to be taxed.
The total commission paid comes to around `65 crore. Seen against this amount, in 2010 the 2G spectrum allocation scam was of the order of `1.75 lakh crore. Even if it’s a notional amount, it cannot be too far from the real sum and represents a quantum jump of about 3,000 per cent. In hindsight, the Bofors scam and the huge cover-up by the agencies concerned seems negligible in today’s context. But reading between the lines it tells a much bigger story, and yet the same old story, of the ruling party or parties using the Central Bureau of Investigation and the income-tax department for furthering their own agendas, as tools against their foes and for their friends. The root of the malaise is the absence of the concept of public accountability.
Legally speaking, the Bofors investigation, which is sought to be closed officially because of lack of evidence (a familiar ring), should be re-opened in the light of the evidence in the 93-page judgment of theincome-tax appellate tribunal. The Central Bureau of Investigation, as a former Central Bureau of Investigation chief has been saying on TV channels, has all the material necessary to punish the guilty but they were not allowed to go ahead. It can start the prosecution process against Mr Quattrocchi; this will show whether the government has the political will to proceed against him. It must be said, to the credit of the income-tax department, that it did chase the money trail of kickbacks given to both Chadha and Mr Quattrocchi. This is admirable considering that big brother was watching. It is necessary for the country to know who these persons are who prevented the law enforcing agencies from proceeding against the guilty and punishing them. These individuals can be proceeded against under Section 212 of the Indian Penal Code for harbouring offenders. Life, they say, has no rewind button, but had the Central Bureau of Investigation and the income-tax department been allowed to do their jobs in the Bofors scam after tracking the guilty and their misdemeanours, maybe we would not have had the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games scam of some `3,000 crore or the 2G spectrum allocation scam of `1.75 lakh crore. While the Congress’ cup of woes has overflowed into the new year, the start of the second decade of the 21st century, it is not them alone that are to be blamed. As a Congress spokesperson said, in the 25 years that have passed since the 1986 Bofors scam the non-Congress parties were in power for nine years. What was their role and what did they do when they were in power? One hopes for answers to this very serious question, one that indicates that there must be something very wrong with a system whose elite law enforcing agencies can be manipulated by vested interests. It happens again and again.