NEW DELHI, April 28 – Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, the only surviving suspect in the Bofors payoff case, has been dropped from the Interpol’s wanted list at the behest of CBI, kicking a political storm with opposition parties today accusing the government of giving him a clean chit three weeks before it bows out of office, reports PTI. As the Government tried to put up a brave front, BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate L K Advani held Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President “guilty” for the CBI decision and said the party will reopen all political cases if it comes to power.
Law Minister H R Bhardwaj said the Centre has no role in CBI asking Interpol to drop Quattrocchi’s name from the wanted list. The agency took the decision on the basis of the opinion given by Attorney General Milon Banerjee given in October last year.
Under fire, the CBI came out with a brief statement. Its spokesman Harsh Bahal said, “the case has been under trial in the courts since 1999. CBI has taken action on the basis of legal advice of the highest order. We will inform the competent court on the next date of hearing (April 30, 2009).
The CBI had sent the case to Banerjee for seeking his legal opinion in the matter as the five-year validity of Red Corner Notice against 71-year-old Quattrocchi, issued at the behest of the agency, was ending in January this year.
Advani said “this is a very serious issue. It is not a question of Quattrocchi alone but the entire role of the agency during the last five years which should be probed.”
Describing BJP’s allegation as politically motivated, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi said Bofors is a “dead horse” which the opposition party has been trying to flog for several elections.
Amidst the opposition clamour, former CBI director Joginder Singh claimed that the agency had documents which showed that Quattrocchi had allegedly received 7.32 million USD as kickbacks in the Rs.64 crore Bofors scam.
In the midst of the developments, an application was today moved in the Supreme Court challenging the CBI’s decision.
In the application, advocate Ajay Agrawal sought the direction of the apex court to stay the operation of any withdrawal of Red Corner notice against Quattrocchi who has not submitted himself to Indian court in connection with the Bofors case.
Agrawal, who had earlier moved the apex court in January 2006 against the defreezing of Quattrocchi’s bank account in London, sought issuance of a fresh Red Corner notice against him.
In Rae Bareli, Priyanka Gandhi denied the BJP charges that the UPA government is misusing CBI to give the Italian businessman a clean chit.
“Absolutely not” was her response to reporters when she was asked to comment on BJP’ allegation.
Left parties flayed the government saying it was the “latest episode of misuse” of CBI and another step to bury the case.
The CPI-M politburo said as long as there was a Congress-led government in office, “subversion of justice will continue” while CPI leader D Raja too questioned CBI’s decision. ASSAM TRIBUNE
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