New Delhi: The government set in motion a damage-control exercise on Monday night after daylong drama by the Opposition in Parliament over the Quattrocchi arrest issue and the revelation later in the day that the Italian businessman has already been released on bail in Argentina.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is yet to launch extradition proceedings to get the man shifted to India to face trial in the Bofors payoff case. The government has promised to make a statement on the issue on Tuesday.
Hours after the news broke about the release of the Bofors accused from the custody of Argentina police, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Law Minister H R Bhardwaj apparently to discuss the legal recourse on the issue.
According to reports the two met for over half-an-hour and are understood to have deliberated on the Quattrocchi issue. The meeting took place as soon as the news reached New Delhi that Quattrocchi had been released on bail in Argentina.
Quattrocchi had been detained in Argentina on February 6 on the basis of an Interpol notice against him in the Bofors case. Mukherjee's meeting with Bhardwaj came amid preparations by the External Affairs Ministry to send a formal request to Argentina to extradite Quattrocchi.
The request is likely to be carried by the CBI team, which will travel to Argentina on Wednesday to persuade the authorities there to send Quattrocchi to India to face trial in the 1986 case.
Indian Ambassador to Argentina, Pramatesh Rath, also had a meeting with Argentinean Foreign Ministry officials on Monday in connection with the issue.
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