New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday
advanced to November 30 hearing on the Centre's controversial
decision to withdraw the two-decade old Bofors payoffs case
against Italian businessmen Ottavio Quattrocchi.
A bench of Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice
P Sathasivam agreed to advance the date of hearing from
December 11 to November 30 on the plea of Solicitor General
Gopal Subramaniam and Additional Solicitor General P P
Malhotra.
The Centre submitted the matter be heard early as the
trial court had deferred its verdict till March 2010 on the
closure report filed by CBI against Quattrocchi.
The Centre had during the earlier hearing in the apex
court claimed all efforts to extradite Quattrocchi, an accused
in the case relating to payment of Rs 64 crore as commission
in the Howitzer gun deal, have failed.
It contended the decision was taken considering a
Delhi High Court judgement of 2005 which had held that no case
of corruption was made out in the Bofors deal.
Subramanium had said the government came to the
decision after taking into account all the facts of the case.
The Centre's decision had drawn flak from BJP and
lawyer Ajay Agraawl who had moved the apex court in January,
2006, against the defreezing of Quattrocchi's bank account in
London and opposed the stand of the Centre and CBI.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 09, 2009, 19:49