CBI to look into private investigator's revelations on Bofors case

On October 19, 2017, it was reported that India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) would examine facts and circumstances raised in a television interview concerning the Bofors case. The agency’s decision followed claims made by private investigator Michael Hershman, the president of the Fairfax Group, who had been deployed in 1986 by then Finance Minister V.P. Singh to investigate suspicious Swiss bank transactions.

The CBI’s move came after Union Minister Smriti Irani urged the Congress party to address Hershman’s allegations. Irani stated that the investigator’s revelations required the opposition party to clarify its position. According to the report, Hershman alleged that the Rajiv Gandhi-led government had sabotaged his Bofors investigation. He also claimed that he was offered bribes on several occasions and received death threats.

Additionally, Irani quoted Hershman’s claim that the owner of the Pakistani-run Bank of Credit and Commerce International, an institution linked to money laundering, met with the former prime minister. Hershman also alleged that a Pakistani citizen met Rajiv Gandhi with a briefcase.

While the allegations generated fresh political debate in 2017, they first surfaced in 1987. At that time, the claims were the subject of a commission of inquiry established by the Rajiv Gandhi government.