The Hindu : Quattrocchi seeks lifting of freeze order on accounts

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Dec 26, 2003

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Quattrocchi seeks lifting of freeze order on accounts

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI DEC. 25 . Finding himself in the dock after the London High Court decided to keep his two bank accounts frozen, Italian businessman and a key accused in the Rs. 64-crore Bofors payoff scam, Ottavio Quattrocchi, has approached the Supreme Court there challenging the High Court order.

The petition on behalf of Mr. Quattrocchi was filed before the Supreme Court of the U.K. recently, sources in the CBI said here today.

His two bank accounts, believed to have three million Euros in one and $1 million in the other, were frozen after the Central Bureau of Investigation furnished evidence against him to the U.K. authorities.

A Division Bench of the London High Court had upheld the decision of the British Government to freeze Mr. Quattrocchi's two accounts on India's request. The CBI had tracked down the bank accounts and found that the money had come into them from the Bahamas, the sources said. However, beyond that the agency had not been able to pin down the source of money and the route it might have taken before being parked in his bank accounts in London.

Letters rogatory to several countries, including tax havens such as the Bahamas, have been sent by the CBI but the agency is yet to receive any assistance in the investigation. Similar letters rogatory have also been sent to Austria, Switzerland and Italy as the agency was on the trail of the money believed to be kickbacks from the Bofors gun deal received by middlemen.

In his petition, Mr. Quattrocchi had sought quashing of the British Government order and release of his money from the two accounts belonging to him and his wife, Maria. The Queen's Bench Division of the London High Court in its order of November 24 had dismissed the application filed by Mr. Quattrocchi for the discharge of the restraint order issued by it on the movement of funds from his two bank accounts in a London bank.

Mr. Quattrocchi, against whom the Red Corner alert notice of Interpol has been reactivated, is believed to be in Milan, Italy.

As he faced trial for his extradition in Malaysia and India lost the case in the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Quattrocchi left Kuala Lumpur for Italy. Despite several requests by the CBI, the Italian Government has not yet confirmed if Mr. Quattrocchi had gone there, though his address and phone numbers have also been provided by the agency.

The CBI has argued that Mr. Quattrocchi had been transferring funds from one account to another in many countries to avoid getting caught by the law enforcement agencies.

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