New Delhi: “I will pursue Quatrocchi wherever he goes,” a top CBI official told CNN-IBN while responding to the reports that CBI has failed in getting Bofors accused Ottavio Quatrocchi extradited to India.
“A case is pending against Quatrocchi. He is an absconder,” CBI sources added.
Quattrocchi was let free by the Argentine authorities on Tuesday and he has returned back to Italy. The Bofor’s accused was given the green signal to leave by Argentine authorities, after a court in El Dorado shot down the CBI's plea to extradite him to India.
The CBI had the legal option of appealing in a higher court, but it failed to get clearance from the Centre. “MEA has a lot of answering to do on the Quattrocchi case. They have let us down,” CBI sources told CNN-IBN.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), is now in an embarrassing position after an Argentine court turned down its request for Ottavio Quattrocchi’s extradition. Yet another blow in the case is that the CBI will now have to pay Quattrocchi's legal fees to the El Dorado court.
The ruling, the report stated, was significant as under Argentine law, a judge issues such an order only if he believes that the defendant did not have a case to answer, which suggests that the judge was not convinced that the CBI had grounds to file for Quattrocchi's extradition.
The agency, under fire for its repeated failures in the case, was completely taken aback by the disclosure.
“We have lot of questions for the Indian ambassador in Argentina. He has to explain why he kept us in the dark for one week about Q's freedom and why did the Public Prosecutor fighting India's case withdrew the appeal against him in the Argentinean SC,” sources added.
Even though Quattrocchi has won the legal battle against extradition to India, the red-corner notice will remain in place.
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