New Delhi, January 15
The CBI today placed before the Supreme Court the Spanish version and English translation of Argentine court orders in the extradition proceedings of the Bofors case accused Ottavio Quattarocchi, who was finally allowed to leave that country by its judiciary.

The order was placed before a three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, which was seized of a PIL accusing CBI of “deliberately” taking a soft stand in the case under “political pressure”.

The translated papers were attested by Marcelo F Sigaloff of attestation division of the Association of Sworn Translators of Buenos Aires with the attestation date of September 12, 2007.

The court, while taking the papers on record, directed the CBI to supply a copy of advocate Ajay Agrawal, who had filed the PIL in 2006 after the agency had allowed lifting of the ban on Quattarocchi’s bank accounts in London.

Agrawal was allowed three weeks’ time by the court to submit his reply in view of the Argentine courts proceedings, which were also challenged by him in a separate application, alleging that the CBI again had allowed Quattarocchi to escape the clutches of the law even when he was arrested on red corner notice.

The CBI had got another red corner notice issued against Quattarocchi after he was let of by the Argentina courts.

While Quattarocchi was in the custody of Argentine authorities, the agency had taken the stand in the Supreme Court that it was facing difficulty in securing his extradition, as India did not have an extradition treaty with the Latin American country.