Quattrocchi's extradition papers cleared for court trial

BUENOS AIRES: The attempts to seek extradition of Bofors accused Ottavio Quottrocchi moved a step forward on Monday when the Argentinian Government cleared the papers submitted by Indian Government for proceedings before a Federal court in a province.

"The Argentinian Foreign Office has informed us that the extradition papers (of Indian Government) have been to the Judge," Indian Ambassador Pramathesh Rath said.

Asked when would the trial begin, he said the matter was now before the judge and it was upto him.

According to a communication sent to the CBI through diplomatic channels, the Argentinian Foreign Office, after going through 250 pages of documents related to India's request for extradition of Quattrocchi, found them intact and decided to send them to the Federal Court in El Dorado in Misiones province.

The two-member CBI team, Director of Prosecution SK Sharma and Superintendent of Police Keshav Mishra, had submitted the extradition papers to the Argentinian Government last week after their arrival in Buenos Aires.

The clearing of papers paves the way for beginning of the extradition trial against Quattrocchi in the court. The clearance comes almost a month after the Italian businessman was detained at Iguazo airport in Misiones province on February six when he was on his way to Brazil.