Govt drops case against Quattrocchi

The Congress-led UPA government on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that it has decided to withdraw case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, a middleman in the 1986 $1.4 billion Bofors gun deal.

In all 1,580 guns were bought amid allegations of corruption in the form of Rs64 crore  kickbacks.

Lawyer Ajay Agrawal had filed a public interest litigation, seeking the apex court’s intervention in restoring the trial of Quattrocchi, a fugitive whose frozen bank accounts abroad had been allowed to be operated without a protest by the CBI.  

Solicitor-general Gopal Subramanium said efforts to extradite the 70-year-old arms dealer had failed.

When Agrawal said that Quattrocchi had been treated by the government as the son-in-law of this country, Subramanium objected to it, and claimed that the government had tried hard to get him to India to face trial.

“The entire government is trying to protect Quattrocchi. Somebody has to protect the rule of law. My petition and applications have to be heard by this court,” Agrawal argued.
The CBI decided to close the case by taking into account a Delhi High Court judgment of 2004, holding that no case of corruption was made out in the Bofors deal.

The matter is likely to come up for hearing before a Delhi trial court on October 3, when the CBI is expected a closure report. The SC will hear issues raised by Agrawal in December.