Court defers hearing on Bofors case till May 8

A Delhi court on Thursday deferred the hearing in the Bofors payoff case against Ottavio Quattrocchi, an Italian businessman, after CBI filed its status report regarding withdrawal of the red corner notice against the accused and sought two months time to consider all its options.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja fixed the next date for hearing on May 8 and noted down that ‘CBI seeks two months time to decide the further course of action.

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CBI also stated before the court that red corner notice was revoked because the extradition process could not be completed for various reasons.’

CBI counsel Additional Solicitor General P P Malhotra asserted in the court that red corner notice was revoked against Quattrocchi because all attempts to extradite him had been failed and it did not seem possible in near future. He, however, assured the court that the CBI was keeping all options open and so he asked two months time to make a final statement.

The CBI also informed the court that there were eight accused in the case. Three are already dead while four were acquitted by the Delhi High Court in February 2004. And all attempts to extradite Quattrocchi had been failed because of lack of evidence against him.

After CBI failed to know the whereabouts of Quattrocchi, Interpol had issued red corner notice against the Italian businessman in 1997 following CBI’s request. The warrant, however, was withdrawn in November last year following a communication from the CBI, ASJ Malhotra informed the court.

The nearest the CBI came to him was in February 2007 when Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina on the basis of an Interpol warrant. The CBI, however, remained failed to extradite him because of lacking circumstantial evidences against him in the scandal.

Even the two British Bank accounts of Quattrocchi which were frozen by a High court order on a request by the government earlier were defrozen in January 2006 after ASG B Datta requested the British government for the same citing insufficient evidence to link these accounts to Bofors scam.