The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, December 5, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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Malaysian HC defers hearing in Bofors case

New Delhi, December 4
The Malaysian High Court today deferred till tomorrow the hearing on India’s appeal against the order of the Sessions Court dismissing the extradition proceedings against controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, wanted by the CBI in the Bofors gun deal scam.

A CBI spokesman said here that the court adjourned the hearing on the matter till tomorrow during the brief hearing of the matter this morning.

The high court would also take up tomorrow the Indian request for a stay on the order of the Sessions Court discharging Quattrocchi from the case and dropping the extradition proceedings against him.

India would place the correct position on the case and would stress that it had moved the extradition proceedings against Quattrocchi only after it had concrete and dependable evidence about the involvement of the Italian businessman in the Bofors case.

The Indian appeal was moved by the Malaysian Attorney-General before the high court in Kuala Lumpur yesterday after a formal request was made by India.

Quattrocchi was released in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, with the Sessions Court terming reasons given by India seeking his extradition as “insufficient, vague and ambiguous”.

Quattrocchi was discharged and his passport returned after the order effectively ended all proceedings related to the case being pursued in other Malaysian courts. UNI

Indian lawyers disallowed

Kuala Lumpur, December 4
In yet another jolt to attempts to seek extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors payoff case, a Malaysian High Court today disallowed Indian lawyers from joining local prosecutors during hearing of an appeal in the matter tomorrow.

Judge Augustine Paul ruled against a counsel on behalf of the Indian government to hold a “watching brief.”

Paul gave the ruling while adjourning till tomorrow hearing on the appeal by the Malaysian authorities against a lower court’s decision on Monday rejecting a plea for extraditing 64-year old Quattrocchi to India to stand trial.

Ruling that the two sides are expected to forward their arguments within a day, the judge said while holding that “speed should be the essence.” The businessman was also directed to stay in Malaysia till the case is over.

“You are representing the Government of India. Do you want to be watched. The government has entrusted the case in able hands,” the judge told the Deputy Public Prosecutor Kamarul Hisham Kamaruddin when he argued that the case was not being represented by two lawyers.

“There should be no watching brief,” the judge said. Paul, reviewing the case in initial arguments, ruled that Malaysian prosecutors were sufficient to represent India’s interests in the courtroom. PTI