Quattrocchi walked free as Govt blundered

New Delhi: The Indian Government didn’t submit before an Argentine court documents needed to secure the extradition of Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors case, according to the Argentine court's order placed before the Supreme Court.

Quattrocchi, 69, was released after the El Dorado court rejected India's plea for his extradition on June 8, 2007.

"The Government of Republic of India has failed to submit a court resolution ordering the issuance of the arrest order, dated May 25, 1997, which is the origin and reason of the commencement of these proceeding (extradition)," said the Argentine court order translated from Spanish to English by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The CBI placed the translated order before the Supreme Court on Tuesday.

"Furthermore, the Government of India has attached a copy of the arrest order and of the court resolution dated February 24, 2007 which provides no pertinent grounds for arrest," the order said.

The agency had to place its own translated copy of the order as it failed to secure the certified translated copy from the Argentine court.

"Despite our best effort to secure the translated copy of the order from the Argentine court we have failed," Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium said before a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan.

The El Dorado Court had held that "since the documentation submitted by India does not meet the requirements of its (Argentine) law, the extradition order against Quattrocchi cannot be sustained".

Further, the Argentine court had said "it must be asserted that the document submitted (by India) does not represent the formal requirement stated by law, since the court decision, dated May 25, 1997 regarding the crime giving rise to the arrest (of Quattrocchi) has not been submitted".

"The documents furnished on February 24, 2007 do not provide the pertinent legal grounds which are essential requirements to proceed with the extradition order," the copy of the order said.

The Italian businessman, who was detained on February 6 last at the Iguazu International Airport on the basis of a Red Corner notice issued by Interpol, was released on bail on February 23.

The Supreme Court was on Tuesday hearing an application filed by advocate Ajay Agrawal, who has pleaded that the Centre and the CBI place before the court all documents relating to his extradition from Argentina.