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Bofors case set to close
No proof against Q, Centre tells SC
R Sedhuraman
Our Legal Correspondent

 

Bofors: The Case History 1987: Alleged payoffs in the Bofors deal surface in a broadcast of Swedish Radio. 1990: FIR filed in the Bofors case. 1997 : Swiss banks release some 500 documents after years of legal wrangling. CBI files a case against Ottavio Quattrocchi, arms dealer Win Chadha, also naming former PM Rajiv Gandhi, Defence Secy SK Bhatnagar and number of others. 1999: First charge sheet names Chadha, Quattrochhi, Bhatnagar, former Bofors chief Martin Ardbo and Bofors company. 2000: Supplementary charge sheet names Hinduja brothers 2003 : Two British Bank accounts of Quattrocchi frozen by HC. 2004 : Delhi HC gives clean chit to Rajiv Gandhi. 2005 : Charges against British businessmen, Hinduja bros quashed 2006: CBI says its still pursuing extradition orders for Quattrocchi. 2007: CBI releases a statement about Quattrocchi’s arrest in Argentina. Extradition trial begins in El Dorado, court rejects extradition request of Quattrocchi. 2008: Red Corner Notice against Quattrocchi withdrawn. Apr 2009: CBI seeks time from trial court to decide future course of action against Quattrocchi. Sept 2009: Centre tells Supreme Court about its decision to withdraw case against Quattrocchi

New Delhi, September 29
The Centre today informed the Supreme Court that it had decided to withdraw the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi for lack of evidence against him in the alleged Bofors payoff.

The decision had been taken as the sustained efforts of the CBI and the Centre to nail Quattrocchi in the kickback case had failed in the courts of Malaysia and Argentina, besides the Delhi High Court, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium told a three-member Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan.

The CBI would file an application for the withdrawal of the case, pending before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) of Delhi, at the time of the next hearing, slated for October 3, the Solicitor General said.

The Bench, which included Justices P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, clarified that dropping the prosecution proceedings against Quattrocchi would be subject to the CMM's approval. It posted the next hearing for December 11, stating that by that time the status of the case pending in the trial court would be known.

The Solicitor General made the disclosure during the hearing of a petition filed by advocate Ajay K Agrawal, who wanted the Centre to disclose the reasons for allowing the British government to defreeze the bank accounts of Quattrocchi.

Subramanium said there was no point in pursuing a case relating to the 1986 deal in which the FIR was registered way back in 1990. The charge sheet had been filed in 1999. But the HC had ruled in 2004 that there was no shred of evidence relating to corruption in the purchase of the guns for the Army. No one had challenged the HC verdict and even the Interpol had withdrawn the red-corner notice issued for the arrest of Quattrocchi, he pointed out.

The petitioner, however, contended that the CBI had never been serious about pursuing the case against Quattrocchi and was rather "treating him like a son-in-law." It was a question of upholding the rule of law, he argued.

The Solicitor General said the Centre had managed to keep Quattrocchi's bank account in England frozen for several years, pleading that it was seeking his extradition from Malaysia, where he was staying. It was only after the CBI failed to convince three courts, including the apellant and apex courts, of Malaysia and the top judiciary in Argentina, where he was on transit, did the government agree to the plea for defreezing the bank account, he said.

Q being saved as he knows too much: BJP

New Delhi, September 29
With the Centre today informing the Supreme Court that it was withdrawing the Bofors pay-off case against Ottavio Quattrocchi, BJP today said the Congress government was bailing him out as he "knows too much".

"In the Bofors case, the government is always trying to bail out Ottavio Quattrocchi as he knows too much. That's the reason why he is being completely bailed out like this," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Citing earlier instances where the Congress-led UPA government had allegedly helped the Italian businessman, he said, "The CBI was not allowed to file an appeal against the court order passed in 2005. In Argentina, an order was passed refusing extradition to Quattrocchi but no appeal was allowed to be filed again." "The money in a London bank account of Quattrocchi was released in his favour based on a collusive report of the law ministry and the then law minister had publicly said there was no case," Prasad said.

Defending the NDA government's role, he said, "Till we came to power in 1998, no action had been taken at all. We ensured that a charge sheet was filed and matter moved to the Supreme Court....Now the government is bailing out all accused in the Bofors case." — PTI