New Delhi: Adding credence to the CBI claim that Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi is in no position to leave Argentina in spite of having been released on bail, the Argentine authorities on Tuesday informed the Indian Government that they had impounded the passport of 69-year-old Quattrocchi.
Quattrocchi has been barred by the Argentine authorities from leaving the country even though he has been released on bail after his arrest on the basis of an Interpol red-corner notice two weeks back.
Quattrocchi, one of the key accused in the Bofors case, cannot leave the country now till his case is decided. A two-member Central Bureau of Investigation team is leave for Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning to begin extradition proceedings to get Quattrocchi in its custody.
The Argentine authorities have also informed New Delhi that they will take at least 15 days to examine the extradition papers. The CBI is likely to submit the paper on March 1.
"We have asked our ambassador in Argentina to fix a meeting with the Foreign Office to discuss the case and request for its speedy processing," a senior CBI official told PTI in New Delhi on Tuesday.
CBI sources said the agency's team, which comprises a superintendent of police and director of prosecution, has been asked to look for a local lawyer who could assist the prosecutor general appointed by the government there.
The CBI had appointed a private law firm in the extradition case of underworld don Abu Salem from Portugal. Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina on February 6 on the basis of an Interpol red-corner notice while on his way to catch a flight from Iguazu airport in Misiones province to Brazil.
On February 23, the Federal Court in Misiones granted him bail and three days later New Delhi was informed about the Italian businessman being released with a condition that he cannot leave the country.
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