Bofors scandal was a media trial: President Pranab

May 26, 2015 09:01

Days ahead of his state visit to Sweden, President Pranab Mukherjee said the Bofors scandal was a media trial but it had not been proven to be a scandal in a court of law.

In an interview to Swedish national daily Dagens Nyhetter, Mukherjee was asked if he thought Bofors had been a media trial.

The president said, "First of all -- it is yet to be to be established that there was a scandal. No Indian court has established it. I was the defence minister of the country long after Bofors, and all my generals certified that this is one of the best guns we are having. Till today, Indian army is using it. The so-called scandal which you talk of, yes, in the media, it was there. There was a media trial. But I'm afraid, let us not be too much carried by publicity."

The Bofors scandal was a $285 million contract between the Indian government and Swedish arms company Bofors, signed for supply of 155mm howitzer field guns in 1986.

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