CBI asks Interpol to take Quattrocchi off wanted people's list

Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors payoffs case, has been taken off the CBI list of wanted persons, sparking a protest by Opposition parties which demanded an immediate probe into the working of the agency for the last five years.

Following a communication from the CBI, the Interpol has taken Quattrocchi's name off the Red Corner notice lingering for the last one decade.

BJP prime ministerial candidate LK Advani said "this is a very serious issue". "It is not a question of Quattrocchi alone but the entire role of the agency during the last five years which should be probed".

Putting up a brave defence, the Government said it had no role to play in the move by the agency which took the decision on the basis of a legal opinion given by Attorney General Milon Banerjee in October last year.

CBI spokesman Harsh Bahal said, "The case has been under trial in the courts since 1999. CBI has taken action on the basis of legal advice of the highest order. We will inform the competent court on the next date of hearing (April 30, 2009).

Describing the BJP's allegation as politically motivated, Union Law minister Hansraj Bhardwaj said the CBI acted on the opinion provided by the attorney general.

"This is a politically motivated allegation. The Government has no role in the judicial process....law will take its own course," Bhardwaj said here.

CBI had approached the attorney general last year for an opinion as to whether to continue with the Red Corner notice issued by Interpol against Quattrocchi as the notice has to be renewed every five years.

Banerjee cited inability of CBI to seek Quattrocchi's extradition on two occasions --first in Malaysia in 2003 and then in Argentina in 2007--and opined that the judgements in both the cases indicated that there were no good grounds for extradition.

"....The warrant cannot remain in force forever. Therefore, the warrant of February 1997 would lose its validity, particularly in view of successive failed attempts of the CBI to get the accused extradited from Malaysia and recently from Argentina,” Banerjee, the country's top law officer, said.

The Italian businessman, in his mid-60's, was named by the CBI in 1999 as an accused and, on the basis of a 1997 non-bailable warrant, it had sought a Red Corner notice against him.

Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said if there was any proof against the Italian businessman, why didn't the NDA government take it up during its rule.

"We have nothing to do with Quattrocchi. The Bofors case has been in the public for over two decades. If there was any proof of his involvement in the scam, the NDA which ruled the country for seven years should have taken some steps," he said.

Left parties also slammed the UPA government for dropping Quattrocchi's from the Red Corner Notice list, saying it was the "latest episode of misuse" of CBI for serving Congress' "political interests".

CPI National secretary D Raja said it is up to the government and the CBI to explain its position on the matter which has generated "a lot of controversy".

"The role of CBI is questioned in a number of instances. It is now for the government and the CBI to explain the position," Raja said from Chennai.

Terming it as the "latest episode in the misuse of CBI for the political interests of the CBI", Forward Bloc National secretary D Deverajan said that it has "revealed the ugly face" of Congress.

"It clearly indicates that the Congress has done something wrong in Bofors case and Quattrocchi is a major player in it," Deverajan, who is campaigning in Kolkata, said.