Quattrocchi: CBI team leaves for Argentina

NEW DELHI: A two-member CBI team on Wednesday left for Buenos Aires to present the request for extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who is detained in Argentina in connection with the Bofors pay-off case.

"The team consisting of Director of Prosecution and Superintendent of Police left for the Argentine capital on Wednesday morning and are expected to present the request through diplomatic channels on Thursday," the CBI said.

Argentina had informed India through diplomatic channels that they would take a minimum 15 days to process the matter before any further action is taken, it said.

Though Argentina had appointed Carlos Guilleremo Daneri as Public prosecutor to represent India, the CBI would be looking for a local lawyer who could assist the Prosecutor General appointed by the government there.

Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina on February six on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner notice while on his way to catch a flight from Iguazu airport in Misiones province to Brazil.

Argentine authorities have impounded his passport.

Quattrocchi's lawyer Alejandro Freeland was quoted as saying in Bueonos Aires that his client cannot be extradited from Argentina.

"It's absurd. The affair dates back 20 years and the alleged offenses have already expired under Argentine law in any case," Freeland said.

The Italian, who lives in Milan, was released on 10,000 dollars bail on February 23 and ordered not to leave Argentina, Quattrochhi's another lawyer Adolfo Luis Tamini said.