Having conspired to get a judicial burial of the case, the UPA then attempted to exonerate Quattrocchi. When the Crown Prosecutor froze Quattrocchi’s accounts in London, the CBI and the UPA government’s law officers cooperated in having the accounts de-frozen. It was an enterprising news channel which broke this story.

The bitter truth has again confronted the UPA and its leadership. Quattrocchi was arrested on February 6, 2007 in Argentina. It is now incumbent upon the CBI and the external affairs ministry to bring him to India. He is an accused in a pending chargesheet. He is an absconder. On the principle of Dual Criminality, corruption is an offence both in India and Argentina. An extradition treaty merely facilitates an extradition. Its absence is not fatal to extradition. Abu Salem was extradited even when there was no extradition treaty with Portugal.

Why did the CBI and the UPA government hold back vital information from the country for seventeen days with regard to Quattrocchi’s arrest? It is obvious that the political executive did not want to face the embarrassment of this information being made public during the Punjab and Uttarakhand elections. Additionally, the UPA can’t afford to get Quattrocchi back to India. His arrival in India will raise questions of whether the kickbacks stopped with him or travelled further. The money trail may lead to those the UPA seeks to protect the most. The deliberate delay by the CBI is intended to put up a weak and time-barred defence before the competent authorities in Argentina to get Quattrocchi back. The CBI’s brief is to lose the case. The CBI’s loss will be a UPA victory. A CBI success will be political suicide for the UPA. Why did the CBI collude with the political executive in keeping Quattrocchi’s arrest a secret? What was the CBI’s motive in keeping Quattrocchi’s arrest a secret? The CBI’s explanation that delay was caused for want of proper translation from Spanish to English is an eyewash. Did the Indian Embassy in Argentina not inform the government of Quattrocchi’s arrest in a language other than Spanish? An investigative agency which can’t translate a document from Spanish to English within a day or two cannot be trusted as India’s premier investigative agency.

... contd.