The Q story got murkier on Monday as the govt slipped again, this time by withholding information about Quattrocchi’s release on bail in Argentina.
NEW DELHI: The Q story got murkier on Monday as the government slipped again, this time by withholding information about Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi’s release on bail in Argentina.
It now transpires that Quattrocchi has been out on bail since February 23, the day the CBI first acknowledged that the accused in the Bofors case had been detained in Argentina in response to an Interpol alert issued at India’s request.
The suppression of this vital piece of information has added fuel to the political fire singeing the government and all proceedings in Parliament, except for the presentation of the Union budget on February 28, are likely to be stalled this week.
Quattrocchi has been told not to leave Argentina till the disposal of India’s extradition request, but an official source said the case has become more complicated now. The source said the decision to release Quattrocchi on bail is a clear signal that Buenos Aires will go strictly by the book. For instance, he was given bail because he does not face any criminal charge in Argentina.
The next step is to process India’s extradition request. The papers have to be presented to Argentina’s foreign office, which will vet them to consider whether India has a prima facie case. If the documents pass muster, the foreign office will hand them over to a court, which will examine the case through legal lenses to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to hand Quattrocchi over to India.
A similar loophole allowed Quattrocchi to escape when he was detained in Malaysia in 2001.
A Malaysian lower court ruled that the case was not strong enough to justify extradition, and Quattrocchi left the country before the CBI could appeal to a higher court.
The legal procedure in Malaysia took a little over a year. Indian authorities were not willing to hazard a guess on the timeframe for Argentine procedures.
The situation is getting worse for the government. While it is widely believed that Quattrocchi is likely to slip out of Indian hands yet again, the Opposition is determined to gain as much political mileage out of the controversy as possible.
There was pandemonium in Parliament on Monday as Opposition leaders fulminated against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as she sat impassively in the front row. The government’s inept handling of the Quattrocchi affair will mean more embarrassment for the Gandhis in the coming days.
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