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Sunday, Aug 19, 2007
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Quattrocchi case: apex court to hear application tomorrow

Legal Correspondent

Petitioner seeks tabling of all records relating to extradition

“CBI neither serious nor sincere in efforts”
Law Ministry issued instructions for withdrawal

New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on Monday an application seeking a direction to the Centre and the Central Bureau of Investigation to place in the court the entire records pertaining to the extradition of Ottavio Quattrocchi, accused in the Rs.64-crore Bofors pay-off case.

Advocate Ajay Agarwal, who had earlier challenged the defreezing of Mr. Quattrocchi’s accounts, has filed this application in the same petition questioning the Centre’s decision to withdraw its appeal in the Supreme Court of Argentina. The application will come up for hearing before a Bench headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan.

The application also sought a direction to disclose the “opinions” of CBI officials as also of the Law Officers who allegedly favoured Mr. Quattrocchi, besides the pleadings made by both sides before the court at Argentina and the correspondence relating to the defreezing of Mr. Quattrocchi’s accounts.

The petitioner alleged that the CBI had ‘deliberately’ failed in getting Mr. Quattrocchi extradited to India.

He alleged that CBI officials passed on “opinions” of the Law Officers and of its own officials to Mr. Quattrocchi’s counsel to “facilitate” its “own defeat” on Mr. Quattrochi’s extradition which was, “apparently” being sought by the CBI without really meaning it.

He alleged that the CBI was neither serious nor sincere in its efforts and mislead the nation.

Mr. Agarwal said Lilian Delgado, the Argentine Public Prosecutor hired by the Government in March to press for Mr. Quattrocchi’s extradition, had confirmed that the Indian Government had decided to withdraw the appeal.

Confirmation

Top Government and CBI sources further confirmed that it was the Law Ministry which issued instructions for the withdrawal of the appeal.

He said the CBI Director had stated that he had no idea whether an appeal had been filed or withdrawn.

He sought a direction to the respondents to place the entire records pertaining to withdrawal of appeal from the Argentinian Supreme Court against rejection of extradition request of Mr. Quattrocchi by the El Dorado Court of Argentina; to direct respondents to disclose the circumstances under which the confidential material (opinions of Director, Prosecution, CBI and also of the Law Officers) was supplied to Mr. Free Land, counsel for Mr. Quattrocchi which facilitated defeat of India’s prayer for Quattrocchi’s extradition.

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