Bofors: CBI sends judicial request to United States, seeks information from private investigator Michael Hershman

The CBI also approached the Finance Ministry seeking documents pertaining to engagement of Hershman and if any report was submitted by him but the records of that time could not be furnished to the agency

New Delhi: The CBI has sent a judicial request to the United States seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who had expressed willingness to share with Indian agencies crucial details about the Rs 64-crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s, officials said Wednesday.

Hershman, head of the Fairfax Group, visited India in 2017 to attend a conference of private detectives. During his stay, he appeared on various platforms, alleging that the investigation into the scam was derailed by the then Congress government and stated he was willing to share details with the CBI.

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He had claimed in an interview that he was appointed by the Union Finance Ministry in 1986 to investigation of violation of currency control laws and money laundering by Indians abroad and tracking of such assets outside India and some of them pertained to the Bofors deal.

The CBI also approached the Finance Ministry seeking documents pertaining to engagement of Hershman and if any report was submitted by him but the records of that time could not be furnished to the agency.

The agency took note of Hershman’s claims in several interviews and announced in 2017 that the matter would be investigated according to due process. The need for Letters Rotatory arose because letters and reminders to the US authorities on November 8, 2023, December 21, 2023, May 13, 2024, and August 14, 2024, did not yield any information.

A Letter Rogatory is a written request sent by the court of one country to the court of another country to obtain assistance in the investigation or prosecution of a criminal matter. The requests to the Interpol also did not yield any outcome.

The CBI got a green signal from the Home Ministry on sending the LR to the US on January 14 this year. The agency informed the Special Court, which cleared the LR application of the CBI on February 11.

“It is requested that in order to collect both documentary as well as oral evidence, for ascertaining the fact relating to the claims made by Michael Hershman, in the above-mentioned interview, it is necessary to conduct investigation in the United States of America,” a special court had noted while clearing the CBI’s application for the issuance of the LRs.