The Hindu : Front Page : Quattrocchi held in Argentina

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Saturday, Feb 24, 2007
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Quattrocchi held in Argentina

Vinay Kumar

Significant development, says CBI

Ottavio Quattrocchi

NEW DELHI: Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors payoffs case, has been detained by Interpol in Argentina. He was transiting from a provincial airport to Buenos Aires, according to information received by the Central Bureau of Investigation here.

Describing it as a "significant development" in the Bofors payoffs case investigation that has seen many ups and downs and has been marred by a protracted legal battle, CBI Director Vijay Shanker told The Hindu that a CBI team would leave for Argentina as soon as the Government took a decision on getting Mr. Quattrocchi extradited.

The Italian businessman was detained by the Argentinian arm of Interpol on February 6, 2007 on a Red Corner Notice that had been issued against him by the international police organisation at the request of the CBI years ago. He was detained at the Iguazu international airport in the province of Misiones. The CBI was informed of his detention by the Interpol as well as Argentinian authorities through diplomatic channels.

Mr. Shanker said that although the charges against Mr. Quattrocchi had been "watered down substantially," he still faces the charge of conspiracy to cheat in the Rs. 64-crore Bofors payoffs case in which a charge sheet was filed in a Delhi court in 1999. The Italian remains the only accused in the politically sensitive case: the CBI investigations have gone on for 17 years. The case redefined equations in the country's political arena for the past decade and a half.

Mr. Quattrocchi, who was the representative of the Italian multinational giant Snamprogetti in India, has so far managed to dodge the CBI's efforts either to extradite him or make him join the investigations. Though the Red Corner Notice remained "alive," he managed to leave Malaysia a few years ago. Since then reports had suggested that he was based in Milan, Italy.

India's extradition request was rejected by the High Court as well as the Federal Court in Kuala Lumpur, after which Mr. Quattrocchi left Kuala Lumpur.

In a brief release here on Friday, the CBI said that after confirming the veracity of Mr. Quattrocchi's identity and detention, it has requested the Ministry of External Affairs to send a request for his extradition through diplomatic channels to Argentina. A number of legal formalities as required under the Argentina Extradition Act were being fulfilled. India and Argentina have not signed an Extradition Treaty.

"After assessing mandatory legal and diplomatic formalities extradition, [the] request for [the extradition of] Mr. Quattrocchi to India shall be presented through diplomatic channels to the designated Argentinian Court.

In November-December 2005, Mr. Quattrocchi's bank accounts in the U.K., which had remained frozen for two years, were allowed by a London Court to be "defrozen." Thereupon he reportedly withdrew the money. It had created a political furore.

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