Click to play videoNew Delhi: In a major relief for Bofors scam accused Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, a Delhi court on Friday allowed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to withdraw the cases against him.
The Tis Hazari court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav allowed the case against Quattrochi in the two-decade-old Bofors kickback scam to be closed, accepting the CBI's plea to withdraw the case. The court observed that Rs 250 croere had already been spent on looking at the merits of the case.
"When will this spending end? Attempts to extradite Quattrocchi have also failed," Justice Vinod Yadav observed.
The judge thanked petitioner Ajay Agarwal for bringing the facts to the notice of the court and observed that several cases were pending before the subordinate courts so it is not possible to extend the list.
Quattrocchi has been accused of receiving a payoff for the Bofors artillery guns purchased for the Indian Army in the 1980s.
However, Quattrocchi never appeared before any court in India in the over two-decade-old case.
The CBI in its closure report in the Bofors scam had earlier told the court that it had received no fresh instructions in the case.
The investigating agency pleaded before the court that Income Tax Appellate Tribunal ruling on kickbacks paid in Bofors case was "nothing new" and its application for withdrawing the proceedings Quattrocchi should be allowed.
CBI made the disclosure even after the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal had ruled that illegal commissions had been paid to Italian businessman Quattrocchi and Win Chaddha in the Bofors scam.
Additional Solicitor General PP Malhotra, appearing for CBI, said that the findings of the tribunal had been mentioned in a chargesheet filed by it in the over two-decade-old Bofors case.
The CBI has maintained the investigations into Bofors scam have hit a dead end and wants the case closed citing lack of evidence. The CBI's attempts to extradite Quattrocchi have failed many times.
"Twenty-five years have passed. All attempts to extradite Quattrocchi have failed. When will we get him, when will trial happen? So we have decided to withdraw the prosecution," the CBI counsel told the court.
"I am not disputing what the tribunal has said. That is the case of prosecutor (CBI) also and it is mentioned in the chargesheet. There is nothing new," Malhotra told the judge.
"There is no need for the court to go into the merits of the case. The court should look only whether there is a bonafide intention on the part of CBI or not. Merits has no relevance in this case," he said.
The process to give a silent burial to the Bofors case began in 2004 when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance Government came to power. The Government first removed the freeze on Quattrocchi's accounts in London.
The Interpol later withdrew the notice against the Italian businessman.
The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal in its verdict on Tuesday ruled that that Quattrocchi and the late Win Chadha were liable to pay tax on the kickbacks received in the Bofors scam.
It verdict noted that 242.62 million Swedish kroners were paid to Quattrocchi and Chadha in kickbacks. The bribes were paid into accounts of M/s Colbar Investments Limited Inc and M/s Wetelsen Overseas, controlled by Quattrocchi and his wife Maria Quattrocchi.
The kickback was paid by M/s AB Bofors as commission to Quattrocchi and Chadha through M/s AE Services and M/s Svenska.
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