Well done, CBI

It is not just wonders that don't cease. Where the Central Bureau of Investigation is concerned, fiascos are also an ongoing process. Thus, the court in El Dorado, Argentina, said first that Ottavio Quattrocchi was not liable to be extradited to India. Then it added some salt to the wound: it said that the CBI would have to pay his costs as well, because the court was not convinced that it had sufficient grounds in the first place to seek his extradition. News reports suggest that it did not present a complete case to the court, that vital documents were not produced, and that its own past record of handling the case came in the way of getting what it asked for. In short, the CBI did it again""it mucked up. Quite naturally, Mr Quattrocchi said he was "satisfied that justice had been done".

It might be hard to believe, but when the CBI wants to, or is permitted to, it can do a good job. So it is tempting to conclude that an Indian "green corner" notice, as it were, had been sent out to save Mr Q. The CBI now intends to appeal, which it must certainly do. But who is to ensure that it prepares its case with the thoroughness and diligence that is needed? Indeed, if it has been given the opposite signals by the government, can it do so? There might still be some people, most notably in the Congress party, who wear a look of surprise and horror at the thought of the government doing any such thing. But the act has worn too thin for anyone to pay any notice.

The facts speak for themselves. Mr Q won in an extradition case in Malaysia. When the Italian government offered to prosecute him, it got nowhere with the government here. In Britain, the authorities were told that there was no case against Mr Q, and so his money in a bank account, allegedly linked to the Bofors pay-offs that date back two decades, was allowed to be taken away. Developments in various countries stay undiscovered till it is too late to do anything, or the responses are not sent in time from one government department to another. Much of this has happened during Congress regimes, but a former minister in the Vajpayee government once disclosed that he was told by Mr Vajpayee not to touch the file on Bofors, only to clarify later that it had all been said in jest. Well, the case of Mr Q ceased to be funny long ago.

Now the Indian tax-payer will have to pay for Mr Q's expenses over several weeks in a luxury hotel in Argentina while he awaited his hearing. The BJP, which did precious little when it was in power to bring Mr Q to book, has demanded an enquiry by a judge. It says the government gave "secret files" to Mr Q's lawyer. Ordinarily, this charge would have been dismissed for being preposterous; but given the long record of this case, it is not hard to suspect the worst.