Lindstrom's revelations clean chit for Rajiv: Congress

New Delhi, April 25 (IANS) The Congress Wednesday said former Swedish police officer Sten Lindstrom's revelations on the Bofors payoff scandal has given a clean chit to former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

'Lindstrom's statement should not be given so much importance...but his statement makes it clear that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had nothing to do with it,' Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters.

The party also asked the opposition, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to apologise for misleading the nation all the years.

Responding to the BJP's remark that it has always questioned the safe passage to Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, Alvi said, 'the Indian government as well the Central Bureau of Investigation had ordered probe against him and had moved the courts in Italy, Malaysia and Argentina for his extradition.'

'The courts in these countries refused to hand over Quattrochchi to India as there was no case against him,' said Alvi, adding 'similar attempts were made in India as well.'

Earlier, the BJP and the Left demanded an explanation from the government on Lindstrom's revelations on the Bofors payoff scandal, including the safe passage to the main accused Quattrocchi.

The BJP said it had always questioned the safe passage to Italian businessman Quattrocchi in the Rs.1,500 crore Bofors gun deal in the 1980s.