Know more about Ottavio Quattrocchi, the man behind Bofors scam

New Delhi: Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, believed to be one of the major players in the Bofors scam, died of a heart attack in Milan on Friday night. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had been trying to extradite Quattrocchi, 72, to India but it lost two extradition appeals, first in Malaysia in 2002, and then in Argentina in 2007. Ottavio Quattrocchi was the India representative of Snamprogetti, a Milan-based Italian multinational company involved in engineering and construction projects. It is said that during his tenure, he won as many as 60 projects worth Rs 300 billion from across Asian countries for Snamprogetti. In 1984, a tender was floated for Howitzer guns for the Indian Army. On evaluation, the French Sofma gun was found to be the best in terms of price and features. The Army needed a range of 30 km; Army chief Krishnaswamy Sundarji favoured the Sofma because in field trials showed its range as 29.2 km against 21.5 for Bofors. Furthermore, as was revealed much later, Bofors was (illegally) permitted to alter its bid without re-tendering. Eventually, despite the objections of the army and others, the order went to Bofors. The scandal erupted in 1987 when Swedish radio revealed that Bofors -- facing stiff international competition -- had paid more than $50 million in bribes to secure a contract for the sale of field guns worth $1.4 billion to the Indian Army. Then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was named one of the suspects in the scam. On 5 February 2004 the Delhi High Court quashed the charges of bribery against Rajiv Gandhi citing inadequate evidence that any of the commission was actually paid to him. Other suspects in the scandal included Quattrocchi, an Indian arms agent called Win Chadha and Martin Ardbo, the Bofors chief. It is said he became close to the Gandhi family because Sonia Gandhi, the Congress party president, hails from Italy. Quattrocchi shifted to India soon after Rajiv married Sonia. It is alleged Quattrocchi was so influential with the office of the prime minister -- Rajiv Gandhi -- that bureaucrats used to stand up when Quattrocchi visited them. The CBI's Bofors chargesheet against Quattrocchi claimed he was one of the beneficiaries of the bank accounts into which kickbacks in the Bofors deal were deposited. The CBI said AE Services, a firm owned by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria, had received illegal payments to the tune of $7 million from the Swedish arms manufacturer. When the Swiss authorities formally communicated to the Indian government in 1993 that the kickbacks in the Bofors case were deposited in Quattrocchi's accounts, a Congress government -- headed by P V Narasimha Rao -- was in power. The Opposition immediately wanted the government to impound Quattrocchi's passport and arrest him. But that was not done, and he was allowed to leave the country. He left India for Malaysia on July 29, 1993. This forced the CBI to ask the Malaysian authorities and go through the elaborate legal requirements of that country in order to get Quattrocchi to face trial. In March 2011, a Delhi court allowed the CBI to close its criminal case against him after the investigating agency submitted that it had not been able to get Quattrocchi extradited to India.