NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge into what it described the `Argentinian Quattrocchi fiasco."

The BJP charged the Government with making available to counsel of the accused in the Bofors payoff case, Ottavio Quattrocchi, all papers and opinions of various law officers and observations made by Central Bureau of Investigation officers on files related to the case.

"Secret files"

In a statement issued here on Monday, party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar alleged that the contents of all the "secret files" on the case were given to the defence counsel.

The BJP charged the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government with "mala fide intentions" and demanded an explanation.

The Government's "Save Quattrocchi" plan was evident from the fact that the CBI did not appeal against the Delhi High Court judgement — just before the 2004 Lok Sabha election — virtually absolving all the accused of any wrong-doing, it said.

Later, the law officer kept the CBI in the dark when he informed a British authority that India had no evidence to prevent the de-freezing of Mr. Quattrocchi's London bank account instead of ensuring that the CBI traced the money trail from Bofors to A.E. Services, the party said.

The verdict in Argentina was the result of the Government's all-out effort to save, not nab, Mr. Quattrocchi, Mr. Javadekar said.

The party was, however, completely silent on the inability of the Vajpayee Government in arresting Mr. Quattrocchi in Malaysia. At that time too, the CBI could not come up with sufficient proof against Mr. Quattrocchi that would establish his guilt.

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