IIT was none other than the UPA Government’s Law Ministry and its Minister H R Bharadwaj who let Bofors-accused Ottavio Quattrocchi walk free by deciding not to appeal against the Argentine court order rejecting the CBI’s extradition request.

An investigation by The Indian Express has revealed that not only was this decision signed and approved by Bharadwaj, the CBI was constantly kept in the loop and was even given copies of the opinion several days before Quattrocchi got his passport back in Buenos Aires on August 15.

This contradicts the claims made by the Congress and the CBI the day after the Italian businessman’s release. “I am not aware of the appeal being either filed or withdrawn,” CBI chief Vijay Shankar told this newspaper. And Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi had then claimed that “the matter was settled between Argentine authorities, courts and the accused.”

Facts show otherwise.

After the CBI’s request to file an appeal against the June 8 Eldorado court order rejecting Quattrocchi’s extradition, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) sought the Law Ministry’s opinion. This is what followed:

• In a two-page note, Additional Government Counsel O P Verma, a Law Ministry officer, proffered three arguments why no appeal should be filed: incompatibility of Indian and Argentine laws; failure of the CBI to extradite Quattrocchi from Malaysia in 2003 and the high cost of the Bofors trial as pointed out by the Delhi High Court. Thus, Verma concluded, “no constructive purpose” would be served in appealing.

... contd.