IN a 206-page petition submitted to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh , Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy sought to prosecute Congress President Sonia Gandhi under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the Bofors case.
“In my petition, I have established a prima facie case against Sonia Gandhi on the basis of documentary circumstantial evidence that she abetted Italian businessman and close family friend Ottavio Quattrocchi to obtain an illegal commission in the Bofors gun purchase deal. She then influenced the government of the then prime minister Narasimha Rao to enable Quattrocchi to escape from the country in July 1993. Thereafter, she directed the Union Law Minister in 2005 to help Quattrocchi get his London accounts de-frozen and helped him decamp with over $ 200 million (about Rs 1,000 crore),” Swamy said.
According to him, action should be taken against Smt Gandhi because she is the chairperson of the National Advisory Council.
In a letter dated April 15, Swamy alleged that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had held in Swiss bank accounts illegal money to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore. This sum was received as legatee by Sonia Gandhi following Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination.
He claimed that Sonia Gandhi and members of her family were paid money by KGB, Russia’s former secret police and intelligence agency. According to Swamy, his claim is allegedly an admission on record of the spokesperson of the Russian government that KGB had provided funds to the Congress president and her family, as also evidence that she had received commissions on the Indo-Soviet trade, which were illegal under the Indian law. He alleged that Sonia Gandhi was a habitual offender and needs to be prosecuted.
