Author: Harinder Baweja
Publication: India Today
Date: January 5, 2011
URL: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/125661/top-stories/‘quattrocchi-had-free-access-to-gandhis’.html
Soon after Headlines Today broke the story
on the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order nailing Italian businessman Ottavio
Quattrocchi, Law Minister Veerappa Moily claimed that the Bofors scam accused
did not have deep or personal ties with the Gandhi family.
However, Headlines Today has in its exclusive
possession the testimony of SPG officer Naresh Chandra Gosain made before
the CBI in the Bofors case, which lays out in great detail the relationship
between the Gandhis and Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Headlines Today has also accessed the testimony of Ottavio Quattrocchi's personal
driver Sasi Dharan. In his deposition, Sasi Dharan talks about multiple meetings
between Quattrocchi and the Gandhis.
These meetings continued right up to May 1993, till just before Ottavio Quattrocchi
fled India for good. These testimonies are being brought out into the public
domain for the first time.
The depositions of the SPG officer, who was in the escort detail of then Prime
Minister Rajiv Gandhi and was the Personal Security Officer of Sonia Gandhi,
and Quattrocchi's personal driver, have been revealed for the first time.
SPG OFFICER'S TESTIMONY
Headlines Today is in possession of the written statement of then Intelligence
Bureau officer Naresh Chandra Gosain made before CBI Inspector Ghan Shyam
Rai on March 29 1997. Between 1984 and 1987, Gosain was posted in the Special
Protection Group of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. He was part of the escort
team. Between 1987 and 1989, Gosain served as the Personal Security Officer
or the PSO of Sonia Gandhi.
During Deve Gowda's prime ministership in 1997, Gosain deposed before the
CBI. This deposition has so far never been made public.
Headlines Today dug out this deposition, in which Gosain talks at length about
the close family ties between the Gandhis and the Quattrocchis.
In his testimony Gosain says, "Mr Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife Ms
Maria Quattrocchi were very close to Mr Rajiv Gandhi and Mrs Sonia Gandhi.
When Shri Rajiv Gandhi became Prime Minister, Mr Quattrocchi and his family
members used to visit PM house and the family members of Shri Rajiv Gandhi
also used to visit the house of Mr Quattrocchi."
"In the initial period of Prime Ministership
of Shri Rajiv Gandhi, the children of Shri Rajiv Gandhi used to stay at Mr
Quattrocchi's house during the foreign visits/domestic visits of the Prime
Minister. We used to perform our shift duties at the residence of Mr Quattrocchi
on such occasions. Sometimes, Mrs Sonia Gandhi has also stayed in the house
of Mr Quattrocchi and at that time we used to perform our duties there."
Gosain goes on to add that Ottavio Quattrocchi and his wife Maria enjoyed
free access to the Prime Minister's house. 'At No. 5 & 7 Race Course Road,
private cars were not allowed to enter inside the bungalow. Only the ferry
cars of SPG, after severe security checks, used to carry such visitors from
reception to porch and back. Mr Quattrocchi and Mrs Maria Quattrocchi were
very close to Shri Rajiv Gandhi's family and they got free access to the PM's
House.'
"All visitors to No 5 & 7 Race Course Road were issued passes at
the reception near the alighting point. Every time, a card was kept ready
for Mr. Quattrocchi and his family members as and when they visited the PM's
house. Everybody in SPG posted at PM house knew Mr Quattrocchi and his family
members. Hence, there was no question of identifying them."
DRIVER'S TESTIMONY
Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi's proximity to the Gandhis is well
known. What is not known, however, is whether this proximity continued even
after Quattrocchi began to be linked to the Bofors scandal.
The testimony of Sasi Dharan is crucial in unravelling this mystery. Sasi
Dharan worked as a driver in Snam Progetti. Snam Progetti was an Italian public
sector giant that was represented in India by Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Sasi was Quattrocchi's personal driver. He drove Mercedes No. DIA 6253. In
his testimony before the CBI, Sasi details the frequent meetings between the
Gandhis with the Quattrocchis.
In his testimony Sasi says: "Shri Quattrocchi and Mrs Maria Quattrocchi
were very close to Shri Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and his family. I do not
know what type of relation they had but Quattrocchi and his wife Maria used
to frequently visit the house of Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi. I knew it
since 1985 when I joined service. At that time they used to visit the house
of Rajiv Gandhi twice or thrice in a day. Whenever Sonia Gandhi's mother or
father visited India, I used to drive them to the house of Quattrocchi. They
used to remain there for the whole day and Mrs Maria Quattrocchi would take
them for shopping. They used to come to India four or five times in the year."
What is most damaging is the car log maintained
by driver Sasi Dharan. In this log, Sasi details the exact dates when Ottavio
Quattrocchi came to meet Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi at 5 and 7 Race Course Road
or 10 Janpath. These logs are for the period 1989 to 1993. In this log book,
Sasi Dharan has mentioned 41 occasions when Quattrocchi came to meet the Gandhis.
It is important to note that the meetings between Ottavio Quattrochi and Sonia
Gandhi continued even after the death of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991.
According to Sasi Dharan, Quattrocchi came to 10 Janpath 21 times after May
1991.
It is important to recollect that by January 25, 1990, a team of CBI officials
was already in Switzerland with a list of suspected recipients of the Bofors
payback. According to a Frontline magazine story of the time, Ottavio Quattrocchi
was the first name on that list. Between 1988 and 1990, the media too carried
many stories about the involvement of Ottavio Quattrocchi as a middleman in
the Bofors deal.
What these documents show is that despite the cloud of suspicion surrounding
Quattrocchi's involvment in the Bofors paybacks, he continued to have unfettered
access to 10 Janpath.
Describing his former boss, Sasi says: "Mr. Quattrocchi used to be a
secretive man. He never used to speak much to others about himself. Whenever
some news report came up in the paper about the case, Quattrochhi used to
be very upset. He would not be his normal self. His mood would be bad"
Sasi concludes by saying: "Shri Quattrocchi left India on the night of
July 29, 1993 and on this day also I had driven him to the airport. At that
time he did not have any luggage except one briefcase and he told me he was
going for an urgent meeting. Usually, whenever Mr Quattrocchi wanted the car,
he would tell me in advance, but the day he left, he did not tell me (in advance)"
