Saturday, March 03, 2007
Yes, it's Bofors again
03-Mar-07: INDIA formally requested on Thursday that Argentina extradite an Italian businessman sought for possible involvement in a weapons-kickback scheme that rocked Indian politics in the 1980s. Ottavio Quattrocchi, 68, was detained in Argentina in early February under a 1997 Interpol warrant. Quattrocchi took US$7 million in bribes as a middleman in the US$1.2 billion purchase of artillery from Swedish arms maker Bofors AB in 1986 for the Indian army, Indian investigators say.
Quattrocchi was a friend of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born chief of the Congress Party. The arms scandal seriously harmed the reputation of her late husband, then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and contributed to his government's electoral defeat in 1989. And indeed, probably to his assassination by an aggrieved innocents, whose relative's death was blamed on his behaviour. This is a very serious matter.
But the question on everyone's mind since Quattrocchi's detention in Argentina is why he has been arrested 10 years after a red corner notice in his name and why in Argentina, Indian authorities have maintained that it is by chance. His lawyer says despite a red corner notice, Q had travelled across Europe, Asia and even to China, but was never detained.
When NDTV contacted the Interpol in Buenos Aires, this is what they had to say: "We don't know how they missed apprehending him, Maybe, he came by a different name,'' said Commissioner Nestor Rodriguez, the Chief Press Officer of Interpol. Officials in Argentina, especially of Interpol, were unable to offer an explanation. It could be embarrassment due to the initial lapse by the airport authorities but what's really strange is the response of the Indian government and why they chose to hold back these details.
Quattrocchi was a friend of Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born chief of the Congress Party. The arms scandal seriously harmed the reputation of her late husband, then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and contributed to his government's electoral defeat in 1989. And indeed, probably to his assassination by an aggrieved innocents, whose relative's death was blamed on his behaviour. This is a very serious matter.
But the question on everyone's mind since Quattrocchi's detention in Argentina is why he has been arrested 10 years after a red corner notice in his name and why in Argentina, Indian authorities have maintained that it is by chance. His lawyer says despite a red corner notice, Q had travelled across Europe, Asia and even to China, but was never detained.
When NDTV contacted the Interpol in Buenos Aires, this is what they had to say: "We don't know how they missed apprehending him, Maybe, he came by a different name,'' said Commissioner Nestor Rodriguez, the Chief Press Officer of Interpol. Officials in Argentina, especially of Interpol, were unable to offer an explanation. It could be embarrassment due to the initial lapse by the airport authorities but what's really strange is the response of the Indian government and why they chose to hold back these details.
# posted by uv : 8:02 PM
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