[A-List] UK state and Bofors scandal linkages

["Keaney Michael" <Michael.Keaney@xxxxxx>]

Commons reopens row over Hinduja passport

David Hencke and Luke Harding in New Delhi
Guardian

Tuesday June 11, 2002

A Commons committee is to re-open the row over the Hinduja passport
application by summoning two Whitehall permanent secretaries to answer
allegations that they obstructed an investigation by parliament's
independent ombudsman, Sir Michael Buckley.

The move came as a Delhi court threw out a case accusing the Hinduja
brothers of involvement in India's longest-running corruption saga.

The Delhi high court ruled that India's main prosecuting body, the
central bureau of inquiry, had incorrectly filed charges against them.
The brothers - Srichand, Gopichand and Prakash - had been accused of
accepting $10m (£7m) in bribes as a reward for securing an arms
contract for a Swedish arms manufacturer, Bofors.

The bureau said it would appeal to India's supreme court.

The Hindujas had been accused of using their influence with the late
Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to secure the contract for Bofors in
1986. Their commission was hidden in a series of secret Swiss bank
accounts, the prosecutors said.

The brothers' lawyer, RK Anand, insisted there was no case against them.
The court yesterday refused to alter their bail conditions, which ensure
that at least one brother has to remain in India at all times.

In London, it emerged that Tony Wright, the Labour chairman of the
Commons public administration committee, has summoned John Gieve,
permanent secretary at the Home Office, and Mavis MacDonald, permanent
secretary at the Cabinet Office, to explain their behaviour in the
parliamentary ombudsman's inquiry.

The ombudsman issued a highly critical report in which Sir Michael
condemned Whitehall and the country's top civil servant, Sir Richard
Wilson, for making it impossible for him to carry out his inquiry by
denying him papers.

The dispute over the passport application led to the resignation of
Peter Mandelson, the Northern Ireland secretary, and to Mike O' Brien,
then Home Office minister, having to leave the government over what may
have been said in a secret telephone conversation between them over a
passport application for one of the billionaire brothers.

Mr O'Brien was reinstated as foreign office minister for the Middle East
and India and Pakistan in the recent cabinet reshuffle.

It is understood that both permanent secretaries are reluctant to appear
before parliament because they may be questioned about the role of Tony
Blair in the affair. The ombudsman was only handed the papers about the
passport application - according to Sir Michael's report - when Mr Blair
gave his permission.

The ombudsman has pointed out that it was not in the gift of Mr Blair to
withhold documents - unless they were cabinet papers. The papers
involving the Hindujas were never discussed by the cabinet.

Sir Michael became involved when a Radio 4 Today producer's "open
government" request to get the documents was refused. Whitehall
initially refused to cooperate.

It then emerged that Mr Mandelson had discovered new documents in his
papers which he had handed over to the Cabinet Office. Tony Blair
recalled Sir Anthony Hammond to conduct a further inquiry. This still
failed to uncover the text of the conversation but did produce documents
showing that it was likely it did take place.