 Online edition of India's National Newspaper Saturday, Mar 05, 2011 ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version |
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NEW DELHI: A Tis Hazari court here on Friday discharged Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi from the Bofors case after allowing the Central Bureau of Investigation to withdraw prosecution against him. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav, in his 73-page order, noted that the CBI despite “spending through the nose for about 21 years, has not been able to put forward legally sustainable evidence with regard to conspiracy in the matter. Further, in the case of Mr. Quattrocchi, as against the alleged kickback of Rs.64 crore he received, the CBI had by 2005 already spent around Rs.250 crore on the investigation, which is sheer wastage of public money.” Under the circumstances, Mr. Yadav said the application seeking withdrawal of prosecution “appeared to be bona fide and in the larger public interest.” Mr. Yadav recited famous lines from an old Hindi film song — Woh afsana jisse anjaam tak laana na ho mumkin, usse ek khoobsurat mod dekhar chhodna hi achha — which translates to: “A story that cannot be taken to a logical end; it is better to leave it at a good juncture.” The grounds stated by the CBI in 2009 for withdrawal of prosecution were: that more than 19 years had passed since the first case was registered in 1990; that all other accused had died or proceedings against them had been squashed by the Delhi High Court; that attempts to extradite Mr. Quattrocchi from Malaysia and Argentina had failed; and that the Delhi High Court in 2004 had knocked out allegations of corruption or conspiracy with public servants. The application was opposed by advocate Ajay Kumar Aggarwal on the ground that as a public spirited citizen of the country he had “locus standi” to intervene in the case in “public interest”. But Additional Solicitor-General P.P. Malhotra said Mr. Aggarwal had no right to oppose such an application. However, the court had allowed him to make arguments as an “amicus curiae” in the larger interest of justice. Mr. Yadav said his primary task was to decide whether the CBI had sufficient evidence to proceed with prosecution; whether more heavy expenses would be borne by the state; and whether it was in the interest of public policy. In his order, Mr. Yadav also quoted relevant paragraphs from the Delhi High Court judgment of February 4, 2004, to indicate that the CBI had failed in its investigation to prove that the money transferred by Bofors to various agents including Mr. Quattrocchi was meant to be paid as bribe to public servants in India. He also cited orders of the Malaysian and Argentinean courts which were unconvinced by the offences made out by the CBI against Mr. Quattrocchi. Mr. Yadav also took serious note of Mr. Malhotra's submission that “no other country would allow extradition applications of the Indian government” because of two precedents of two different countries, which at the time of considering extradition applications considered the merits of the case as well. Besides noting that Mr. Aggarwal had no “locus standi” to oppose the application, Mr. Yadav took a harsh view of Mr. Aggarwal's conduct during the court proceedings saying that he was interested in attaining “cheap publicity” through the media and that “innumerable court days were wasted” by him. Talking to journalists later, Mr. Aggarwal said he had no intention of giving up on the case and would appeal in the Delhi High Court.
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