Name Bofors names

So at last the Government of India has got the information the entire country has been waiting for all these years. The claim in New Delhi the other day by a senior Bofors representative that the Government had been given the names of the beneficiaries involved in the kickbacks in the Rs. 1700-crore howitzer should at last help write the penultimate chapter in the long-running Bofors saga of political and financial corruption in this country. For the logical thing now is for the Government of India to share the information with the people as to the identity of the bribe-takers and then follow it up with stern steps not only to recover the loot from them but to punish them under the Prevention of Corruption Act. However highly-placed the bribe-takers might be no effort should be spared to bring them to justice. Since the valuable information is already in the possession of the Government, no point will now be served by indulging in speculation.

The government however, should stand forewarned that any attempt to absolve the fugitive Italian wheeler -dealer Ottavio Quottorochi, who by all accounts played a crucial role in swinging the deal the Bofors way to despite stiff odd against the Swedish gun-maker, will not be tolerated by the people.

Indeed the manner in which Quottorochi was allowed to shift base from new Delhi to another country itself smacked of government complicity. The Rao administration should not compound that wrong further by suppressing his name as one of the bribe-takers.