Centre to share missing Bofors files:

Centre to share missing Bofors files:

Context

• The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has asked the Defence Ministry to trace all missing files related to the Bofors scandal and share them with it.

The focus of the committee

• The six-member sub-committee on defence, headed by BJD MP Bhartruhari Mahtab, is eyeing into the long-pending non-compliance of certain aspects of the Comptroller and Auditor- General (CAG) report on the Bofors guns deal.
• The PAC sturdily objected to the Ministry’s proposition that certain paragraphs of the CAG report may be dropped as some files related to it are missing.
• There was a stress on the need for top Ministry officials to trace and share missing files and notings related to the deal.
• According to the minutes of the meeting, top Defence Ministry officials agreed that the Ministry will share all the required details with the PAC.
• The Bofors scandal relating to alleged payment of kickbacks in procurement of howitzer artillery guns had triggered a massive political storm and led to the fall of the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1989.