Italian accountant Ottavio Quattrocchi who was paid a bribe of $7.2 million in the 1986 Bofors-India gun deal passed away last weekend. He was no ordinary commission agent operating in India. He was a gravy train close to the Gandhi family.
It was common knowledge in New Delhi from the 70s that anyone who was invited to the Quattrocchi home had to wade through strategically placed photos of the Gandhi family. If there was a major negotiation, Q was the signore in the know.
Every Indian politician and political wannabe who met me to “discuss” Bofors (1989 to 2013) cursed Q behind his back and shuddered in his presence. Those who did not shiver like a leaf when his name was mentioned claimed they were using the Q-stick to keep Sonia Gandhi out of power after her husband and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed. So, everybody was in the Q game for a personal interest camouflaged as national interest. Everyone thought my political encounter with the movers and shakers of India was because of Bofors. Read More
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