El DORADO: An Argentinean court rejected India’s request to extradite Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors arms scandal, because of flaws in presenting the case.
The court of Judge Hachiro Doi in El Dorado declared Quattrocchi’s detention illegal because India’s warrant against him was not backed by judicial documents.
Quattrochi was arrested on February 6 at the Guazu International Airport in Argentina based on an Interpol notice in 1997.
The Argentine lower court’s remarks now raises a big question mark over the CBI’s seriousness to pursue the well-connected Italian fugitive.
It now appears that if the CBI had been serious in arresting Quattrochi, then it would have got fresh aarest warrant against him after the Delhi HC order in May 2205. This helped in favour of the Bofors prime accused in the Argentine Court.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) alleges that Quattrocchi, who was once close to late Congress leader Rajiv Gandhi, received kickbacks amounting to $1.4 billion from the now-defunct Swedish arms maker AB Bofors to facilitate the sale of 400 artillery guns to the Indian army in 1986.
The failure to extradite Quattrocchi is an embarrassment for the Congress-led UPA government, which is accused of hiding news of his arrest in Argentina and delaying the Bofors probe.
The CBI is red faced, as this was the second time it failed to extradite Quattrocchi and to make matters worse has been asked pay his legal fees in Argentina.
Quattrocchi, who insists he is innocent, first fought off the CBI in Malaysia where the Supreme Court in 1993 rejected India’s extradition request.
