BUENOS AIRES: The attempts to seek the extradition of the Bofors case accused Ottavio Quattrocchi to India gained momentum on Monday.

The Argentinean Government cleared the papers submitted by New Delhi for proceedings before a federal court in a province.

``The Argentinean Foreign Office has informed us that the extradition papers [of the Indian Government] have been [sent] to the Judge,'' Indian Ambassador Pramathesh Rath told PTI here.

Asked when the trial would begin, he said the matter was now before the judge and it was up to him.

Communication to CBI

According to a communication sent to the CBI through diplomatic channels, the Argentinean Foreign Office, after going through 250 pages of documents related to the extradition request, found them intact. It decided to send them to the Federal Court in El Dorado in the Missiones province.

The two-member CBI team — Director of Prosecution S.K. Sharma and Superintendent of Police Keshav Mishra — had submitted the papers to the Government last week.

The clearing of papers paves the way for beginning of the extradition trial against Mr. Quattrocchi.

This comes almost a month after the Italian businessman was detained at the Iguazo airport in the Missiones province on February 6 when he was on his way to Brazil. — PTI

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