The Hindu : Front Page : De-freezing of accounts `ordered'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 16, 2006

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De-freezing of accounts `ordered'

Hasan Suroor

London High Court's decision on Quattrocchi came on January 11

Ottavio Quattrocchi

LONDON: The High Court here is reported to have ordered the de-freezing of the two British bank accounts of the controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi accused of receiving kickbacks in the Bofors scandal.

The court order was said to have been issued on January 11.

The accounts, containing $1 million and three million Euros, were frozen in 2003 at the request of the Indian Government but last month the Additional Solicitor-General B. Dutta advised the Crown Prosecution to de-freeze them.

The move has caused a political row in India and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said it would continue with its investigations whether the two accounts were related to the Bofors kickback affair.

``Manmohan should intervene''

Vinay Kumar reports from New Delhi:

Stepping up its campaign over the issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to ensure that the two accounts of Mr. Quattrocchi remain frozen. In a letter to the Prime Minister, senior BJP leader and former Union Law Minister, Arun Jaitley, said the moneys would fly out of "these accounts to unknown destinations and this needs to be prevented immediately." The issue of concern to the entire country, he said, was with regard to preventing the damage caused by the action of the Law Minister and Additional Solicitor-General of India B. Dutta.

Taking exception to the visit of Mr. Dutta to London last month to inform the Crown Prosecutor that moneys lying deposited in the two British accounts be paid to Mr. Quattrocchi after de-freezing the accounts, Mr. Jaitley termed it as "an extraordinary concession volunteered by the Government of India." Mr. Jaitley pointed out that the Law Ministry has no locus standi in the matter. "Under the allocation of business rules, the CBI comes under the Department of Personnel of which you are the Cabinet Minister. The job of the Law Ministry is merely to tender legal advice and to provide for lawyers to represent different departments of the Government. Who authorised the Law Ministry to deal with this matter? Who authorised the visit of the Additional Solicitor-General to Britain? Who prevented the CBI officer from accompanying the ASG?" he asked in the letter to Dr. Singh.

The BJP leader said that "fairness requires that since Mr. Quattrocchi has close connections in high places, the role of the Government and the investigative agencies in dealing with him must confirm to the highest standards of fair play, transparency and impartiality." .

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