New Delhi: In the latest twist to the Bofors controversy, it has been revealed that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was kept completely in the dark about the move to allow the British courts to de-freeze the bank accounts of Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Quattrocchi is the Italian businessman who was allegedly a prime beneficiary of the Bofors deal pay-offs.
Sources also said that even 10 Janpath did not authorise this move.
CNN-IBN has learnt that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh revealed to a Congress delegation that he was unaware of the request made by the government to defreeze Ottavio Quattrocchi's bank accounts.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi also reportedly had no knowledge of any such move being made by the law ministry.
Congress leaders met the Prime Minister on Friday morning to discuss how to handle the latest Bofors controversy. It was then that the PM told the delegation that he had no knowledge on this move.
The CNN-IBN exclusive report on the Bofors middleman continues to raise a political storm.
The report showed that none other than the Additional Solicitor General had gone to London to ask the agencies there to defreeze Quattrochi's bank accounts.
The opposition is holding the Law Minister, H R Bhardwaj, responsible for giving Quattorochi a clean chit even though an Interpol red alert is still pending against him.
On Friday, former defence minister George Fernandes joined the BJP in targeting the UPA-led government.
Fernandes, who has been a known critic of the Gandhi family, and JD-U spokesperson Shanbhu Srivastava
demanded the resignation of the law minister.
"The very least that the PM can now do to remove the black blot is to dismiss his law minister and additional solicitor general," he said.
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