The Hindu : New Delhi News : Quattrocchi knows too much, hence withdrawal of case, charges BJP

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Quattrocchi knows too much, hence withdrawal of case, charges BJP

Special Correspondent

Ottavio Quattrocchi

NEW DELHI: The Centre’s decision, as conveyed to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, to withdraw the Bofors pay-off case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi came under sharp attack from the Bharatiya Janata Party.

However, the Congress said it signalled an end to a 23-year campaign of disinformation and innuendoes.

BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said: “The government is always trying to bail out Quattrocchi as he knows too much. That is the reason why he is being completely bailed out like this,” He alleged that the Centre’s decision confirmed the conspiracy of UPA-I and UPA-II governments to bury the Bofors case for good.

Citing earlier instances, Mr. Prasad said the Central Bureau of Investigation was not allowed to file an appeal against the Delhi High Court order of 2005 acquitting the Italian businessman. Later, in Argentina, where Mr. Quattrocchi was detained, an order was passed refusing his extradition to India but the CBI did not file an appeal, he said.

“The money in a London bank account of Mr. Quattrocchi was released in his favour based on collusive legal advice procured from an unknown Additional Solicitor-General and the then Law Minister had publicly said there is no case,” the BJP leader said.

Defending the NDA government’s role in trying to unravel the Bofors scam, Mr. Prasad said, “Till we came to power in 1998, no action had been taken at all. We ensured that the charge sheet was filed and the matter moved to the Supreme Court. Now the government is bailing out all the accused.”

On the other hand, the Congress spokesman Manish Tewari accused the Opposition of flogging a dead horse. Neither in India nor abroad had the Bofors case withstood legal scrutiny, he said.

“A number of political careers and reputations of opposition were built on character assassination and innuendoes. When the NDA government was in power from 1998 to 2004, it repeatedly went to court in Malaysia but was not able to build a case for Mr. Quattrocchi’s extradition,” Mr. Tewari said.

If the CBI, in its wisdom based on the facts and circumstances of the case, finally came to the conclusion that nothing more could be done, then it should be respected, he said.

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