New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Thursday said that besides
the Congress, the erstwhile BJP-led NDA government was
responsible for "inaction" in taking the Bofors pay-off case
to its logical conclusion.
"The NDA government too had the opportunity to take the
investigation into the Bofors case to its logical conclusion.
Why didn't they use that option," senior party leader Sitaram
Yechury said here.
Blaming both the BJP and Congress for the closure of the
case, he said the recent Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order
in the Bofors case once again proved that middlemen existed
and commissions were paid in the gun deal.
"We have been consistently maintaining for the past 20
years that there have been middlemen and commissions have been
paid to them," Yechury said.
His comments came as the CBI today contended before a
Delhi court that the tribunal's order was "wholly irrelevant
and reliance on it is totally misconceived."
The agency also said there was no change in government's
stand on withdrawing the case against Italian businessman
Ottavio Quattrocchi in the wake of the tribunal order.
Replying to a question on the corruption charges against
former Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and his son-in-law,
Yechury said the allegations should be "impartially enquired
into as they are very serious charges."
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 06, 2011, 18:34