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| Centre decides to withdraw case against Quattrocchi |
| Press Trust Of India / New Delhi Sep 30, 2009, 01:10 IST |
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He allegedly paid Rs 64 cr as commission in the Swedish Howitzer deal.
The ghost of the Bofors pay-off may finally be given a legal burial, with the government today telling the Supreme Court that it has decided to withdraw the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told a bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishanan, that all efforts to extradite Quattrocchi, an accused in the two-decade-old case relating to payment of Rs 64 crore as commission in the Swedish howitzer deal, have failed.
He said the CBI had taken the decision to close the case by also taking into account the Delhi High Court judgement which had held that no case of corruption was made out in the Bofors deal.
Subramanium said the government came to the decision after taking into account all the facts of the case.
The Solicitor General's statement in the court came under immediate attack from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the lawyer who is pursuing the Bofors case in the Supreme Court, while the Congress Party said after all the case had to come to a closure.
“Quattrcocchi has been treated by this government as a son-in-law of this country,” advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had moved the apex court in January 2006 against the defreezing of Quattrocchi's bank account in London.
“CBI and the entire government is trying to close the case,” said the advocate, who has challenged the High Court's May 31, 2005 verdict after CBI decided not to go for an appeal against the decision.
Quattrocchi, 69, is the sole accused in the case after the Delhi High Court quashed charges against other accused. He has not appeared before Indian courts.
The Solicitor General, who objected to the description of Quattrocchi as “son-in-law”, said the CBI had tried to get him extradited to India following the Red Corner Notice issued against him but failed in its efforts.
He said a call had to be taken for the closure of the case and the CBI and the Centre took into consideration the February 4, 2004, verdict of the High Court that held that there was no evidence under the Prevention of Corruption Act and as such no appeal was filed against the decision.
Subramanium said nothing survived in the appeal filed by Agrawal against the May 2005 verdict of the High Court.
The BJP attacked the government's decision, saying the Congress-led coalition was bailing him out as he “knows too much”.
Citing earlier instances when the UPA government had allegedly helped the Italian businessman, party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “The CBI was not allowed to file an appeal against the court order passed in 2005. In Argentina, an order was passed refusing extradition to Quattrocchi but no appeal was allowed to be filed again.”
“The money in a London bank account of Quattrocchi was released in his favour based on a collusive report of the law ministry and the then law minister had publicly said there is no case,” Prasad said.
BJP ally JD-U also slammed the decision to withdraw the case against Quattrocchi saying whenever Congress was in power, it has tried to weaken the issue.
"CBI is used as a political tool by the Congress government and therefore whenever it comes to power, the Bofors pay-off case gets weakened," senior JD(U) leader and spokesperson Arun Srivastav said.
Both BJP and JD(U) said the decision was expected and it had to happen under the Congress regime. The Congress, however, rejected all the charges saying the opposition had brought the "phantom" of Bofors often though the case could not withstand legal scrutiny.
Defending the government's decision, party spokesman Manish Tewari said "CBI has reached the conclusion that nothing can be done legally in the matter any more. People should respect the agency's decision". He dismissed BJP's claim that Quattrocchi was being shielded by the government.
"Just because it suits some opposition leaders who have built their career by making hulla-ballu about it, it doesn't mean that the issue should not be brought to an end," he said. Attacking BJP for raking up the issue, Tewari said BJP has been screaming conspiracy since 1987 to 2009.
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