Govt defends decision on Quattrocchi case,says no criminality involved

The government today defended the decision to withdraw the Bofors pay-off case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi saying there was no criminality involved.

"There have been cases in foreign courts, domestic courts, high court...everywhere it has gone. Everyone said there is no case. The Delhi High Court said there is no case under the Prevention of Corruption Act. When there is no case under PCA, where is the criminality involved?" law minister M Veerappa Moily told reporters.

He said if the government wanted to recover the money which was paid "and if there is evidence of commission...why was the money fully settled in 1990 itself when there was no Congress government?"

The minister said that the matter was before the magistrate's court and that a withdrawal petition has already been filed. He said Argentina dismissed India's case at a cost. "They imposed a cost at filing the case...CBI pursued vigorously all these years but ultimately there was no result," he said.

On October 3, CBI had filed an application before a Delhi court seeking closure of the Bofors pay-off case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi. The probe agency said all efforts to extradite Quattrocchi for facing the trial here have failed.

Quattrocchi, the sole surviving accused in the two-decade-old case after the Delhi High Court quashed the charges on May 31, 2005 against other accused, has never appeared before any court in the country.