Click to play videoNew Delhi: In a move that could revive the Bofors controversy, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has reportedly withdrawn the Interpol Red Corner Notice against prime accused Ottavio Quattrocchi.
The Red Corner Notice issued against Quattrocchi over a decade ago has been taken off the Interpol website.
A report in The Indian Express says the Italian businessman no longer figures in the CBI's list of wanted persons too. The CBI is expected to formally inform the court of the same on April 30.
The decision was taken after Attorney General Milon Banerjee reportedly called the Red Corner Notice a continuing embarrassment and the notice cannot remain in force forever, as two attempts to extradite Quattrochi have already failed.
Quattrochi's counsel had already sought the removal of the notice in October 2008.
The final decision to take Quattrochi off the hook reportedly came after CBI Director Ashwini Kumar held a meeting with the Union Law Minister H R Bhardwaj.
CBI's spokesperson Harsh Behl said that whatever action was taken by the CBI was only after expert legal advice.
“The case has been under trial in court since 1999. CBI has taken action on the basis of legal advice of the highest order. We will inform the court on the next date of hearing that is April 30, 2009,” said Behl.
Reacting to the news, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said that removing the Red Corner Notice against Quattrochi will become a big election issue.
"Congress says it is with the aam aadmi (common man) but it is actually with Quattrocchi. Mahatma Gandhi removed foreigners from the India... they are removing foreigners from Red Corner Notice. They wanted to clear file before new government comes in," said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate LK Advani blamed the Manmohan Singh Government of removing Quattrocchi from CBI's wanted list.
"This means Congress is not coming back to power or they would have waited before taking such as important decision. If today's news is correct then this will be the last nail in the coffin in the judicial process," said Advani.
But the Congress dismissed BJP's charge saying Bofors is no longer an election issue.
"This is entirely between the government and the individual. Congress has nothing to do with it. Opponents have been trying to make Bofors an issue since the last 20 years. There is an opinion by the Attorney General that there is no issue against him. There is nothing political about this issue and this is no longer an election issue," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
Bhardwaj also refuted the charges that the CBI has been acting under pressure from the Central Government in the Bofors case.
If Quattrocchi is indeed off the hook, it would be a major victory for him in the Bofors scam.
In Dec 2005, CNN-IBN first reported that Solicitor General B Dutta was sent to London to request the British government to defreeze Quattrochi's accounts.
Dutta reportedly went to London on orders from Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, and the CBI was reportedly never consulted.
Subsequently in June 2007, the Indian government's efforts to extradite him from Argentina failed, after he was arrested by the Argentine authorities on the basis of the Interpol Red Corner Notice.
The court in El Dorado had said the CBI did not back up its case with enough evidence.
Who is Quattrocchi?
Born in Sicily, Quattrocchi first arrived in India in the mid 60's as the representative of Italian oil and gas firm Eni.
He became close to the Gandhi family through his acquaintance with Sonia Gandhi, who is also Italian.
The Bofors scandal broke in 1987 and Quattrocchi was accused of playing middleman in the deal.
The ruling Congress Party came under severe criticism over the scam, eventually losing the elections in 1989.
In July 1993 Quattrocchi was officially named as an accused in the case.
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