Page "Bofors scandal" Paragraph 3

The middleman associated with the scandal was Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman who represented the petrochemicals firm Snamprogetti.

Quattrocchi was reportedly close to the family of Gandhi and emerged as a powerful broker in the 1980s between big businesses and the Indian government.

While the case was being investigated, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated on May 21, 1991 for an unrelated cause by the LTTE.

In 1997, the Swiss banks released some 500 documents after years of legal battle.

On October 22, 1999 ( when National Democratic Alliance government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party was in power ) the Central Bureau of Investigation ( CBI ) filed the first chargesheet against Quattrocchi, Win Chadha, Rajiv Gandhi, the defence secretary S. K. Bhatnagar and a number of others.

In second half of 2001, Win Chadha and S. K. Bhatnagar died.