BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley said Quattrochi had entered India the same time as UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and has had a role in important decisions.
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Saturday accused the CBI of keeping the information about the arrest of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochhi, the main accused in the Bofors kickbacks case, on February 6, under wraps ''to save the Congress from getting embarassed'' during the elections in Punjab, Uttrakhand and Manipur.
''Even now the information about Quattrochi's arrest had come from the Interpol, and not CBI, which is an official wing of the International police,'' BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley told newspersons here.
He alleged that the CBI's silence on Quattrochi was intended to deny Argentina the crucial evidence needed to detain him in that country.
He said India not having an extradition treaty with Argentina should not prevent it from bringing the Boforst accused back. He can be brought to India like Don Abu Salem, extradited from Portugal, despite the absence of an extradition treaty.
''While the BJP could understand the anxiety of the political executive to hide facts about Mr Quatrrochi's arrest, but it failed to comprehend the actions of CBI which allowed defreezing of the proceeds of Bofors kickbacks, lying frozen in Quattrochhi's London bank account. The credibility of the UPA and autonomy of the CBI had eroded,'' he said.
Tracing Quattrochi's background, Jaitley said he had entered India the same time as UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and has had a role in taking important decisions and in fact was 'her gift to India'.
His company AE Services was the company which got the kickback money and a probe was necessary to ascertain if he was the lone recipient or he was representing 'other people'.
He alleged that the UPA had adopted a 'go slow' strategy to delay the case against Quattrochi.
The BJP on Saturday adopted a resolution at its Office Bearers meeting in which it demanded the CBI and the External Affairs Ministry to honestly try to get Quattrochi extradited from where he is held.
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