New Delhi: With the Centre on Tuesday informing
the Supreme Court that it is 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 is
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 chargesheet was filed and matter moved to Supreme
Court....Now the government is bailing out all accused in the
Bofors case."
Another BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the
Quattrocchi case was being buried with a political agenda.
"This is complete betrayal of the nation. The case
which should be pursued is being buried with a political
agenda," he said.
"The campaign launched to nab Quattrocchi has been
converted into the `Save Quattrocchi` campaign. This is the
way Congress deals with corruption. We condemn the government
decision," he added.
JD-U slams govt on Quattrocchi case
Slamming the Government for its
decision to withdraw the case against Italian businessman
Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors pay-off case, JD(U) today
said whenever Congress has been in power, it has tried to
weaken the issue.
"CBI is used as a political tool by the Congress
government and therefore whenever it comes to power, the
Bofors pay-off case gets weakened," senior JD(U) leader and
spokesperson Arun Srivastav said.
He said the decision, therefore, did not come as a
surprise.
Bureau Report
