New Delhi: CBI will be seeking closure of
case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the
Bofors pay-off case by telling a Delhi Court tomorrow that it
is difficult to extradite him for his prosecution.
"It is difficult to secure his presence for
prosecution," government law officers said adding it is going
to be one of the main grounds which CBI will cite before the
trial court for withdrawal of case against Quattrocchi.
The nine-page application drafted by the senior law
officers of the Centre, which is to be filed before Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate, will also refer to the two judgements
of the Delhi High Court which quashed all charges against the
other key accused in the case to justify dropping of case
against the 69-year-old Italian businessman.
Quattrocchi, the sole accused in the two-decade-old
case after the High Court quashed the charges on May 31, 2005
against other accused, has never appeared before any court in
the country.
The application will also point out that a February 4,
2004 verdict of the High Court had held that there was not a
rubble of evidence under the Prevention of Corruption Act and
no appeal was filed against the decision.
The inability of the Centre to seek Quattrocchi`s
extradition on two occasions --first from Malaysia in 2003 and
then from Argentina in 2007-- is also to be mentioned by CBI
as one of the reasons for withdrawing the case against
Quattrocchi.
Earlier, CBI had requested the Interpol to take
Quattrocchi`s name off the Red Corner notice in November last
year on the basis of the opinion of the then Attorney General
Milon K Banerji.
CBI, which is probing the politically sensitive case,
will be filing the closure report tomorrow before Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja.
The stand of CBI will, however, be opposed by advocate
Ajay Agrawal who had yesterday filed an application in the
court in his personal capacity pleading it to reject any move
by the investigating agency to withdraw the case against
Quattrochhi.
Agrawal had filed the application two days after the
government informed the Supreme Court on September 29 that it
has decided to drop the case against Quattrocchi saying it
could not be kept pending forever as two attempts to extradite
him have failed.
Bureau Report
