New Delhi, 12 November 2014

The Delhi High Court has dismissed former foreign minister Madhavsinh Solanki’s plea for quashing an FIR lodget against him as an offshoot of the infamouse Bofors scam, saying what he did was a “grave matter”.

Madhavsinh had moved a petition before the Delhi High Court for quashing the FIR that was registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2003 in connection with the Bofors scam.

Solanki – the then foreign minister under PV Narasimha Rao in year 1992 had quietly handed over a note to Swiss Foreign Minister Rene Felber during his official visit to Davos, suggesting suspension of Bofors investigation in Switzerland.

When this issue came to light, Solanki had to resign from his post of foreign minister. He could never rejoin politics.

The CBI on April 4, 2003 registered an FIR against Solanki accusing him of producing false evidence under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).The FIR was lodged for fabricating false evidence as he had handed over, in 1992, a memorandum to a minister in the Swiss government regarding status of proceeding i the Bofors case and the Letters Rogatory issued by a special court here to Switzerland seeking its assistance in getting documents from there.

Solanki had challenged the said FIR in the Delhi HC.

However, that application was not allowed and the matter was referred to the lower court dealing specially with the Bofors case. The lower court, meanwhile, dismissed Solanki’s petition following which he again moved the Delhi High Court.

While dismissing 87-year-old Solanki’s plea, Justice Murlidhar said, “It prima facie appears that the intention behind handing over that memorandum was to dissuade Swiss authorities from further processing the Letters Rogatory(LR). It aappear that the said outcome was a distinct possibility had the government of India not immediately advised the Swiss authorities not to take any serious action on the memorandum. Prima facie the attempt by the appellant, as a Union cabinet minister of the government of India in handing over the memorandum intending to stall the processing of the LR forwarded to the Swiss authorities was a grave matter.”

In its 30-page judgement rejecting Solanki’s appeal, High Court said that “Circumstance brought into existence was the handing over of memorandum by the appellant, as a cabinet minister of the government of India, to the minister in the government of Switzerland with a view to stopping the government of Switzerland from further proceeding with the request made by way of the LR.”