Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 26, 2007
The political executive and the Central Bureau
of Investigation have been caught trying to protect Italian businessman Ottavio
Quattrocchi's interests for the second time since the Congress came to power
at the head of the UPA Government. Early last year, the CBI had allowed Mr
Quattrocchi to walk away with Rs 21 crore after his London bank accounts,
which had been frozen in July 2003 after the then NDA regime had made out
a case that the money was part of the Bofors payola, were unfrozen. On that
occasion, a senior law officer of the Union Law Ministry had travelled to
London to plead Mr Quattrocchi's case and facilitate the withdrawal of funds
widely believed to be part of the bribes paid by the Swedish arms manufacturer,
AB Bofors, to secure the 155 mm field-gun deal when Rajiv Gandhi was Prime
Minister. In fact, Swiss investigators were pretty sure that the money was
tainted and it was on the basis of documentation received from them that the
NDA Government had sought and secured the freezing of the London bank accounts.
Now it transpires that both the political executive and the CBI have colluded
to suppress the information that Mr Quattrocchi was detained on February 6
by Argentinian authorities at Iguazu International Airport on the basis of
an Interpol 'Red Corner' notice issued at CBI's behest in 1997. We can be
sure that Interpol informed the CBI immediately about the detention; we can
also take it for granted that the Argentinian Government informed our Government
through diplomatic channels that one of India's most wanted men was in its
custody. Since New Delhi does not have an extradition treaty with Buenos Aires,
the Government of India had 30 days to submit papers, convince the Argentinian
authorities and secure Mr Quattrocchi's custody. Of those 30 days, 18 have
been wilfully wasted by the CBI and its political masters in trying to hide
the fact of Mr Quattrocchi's detention. Worse, a week after the well-connected
Italian middleman was detained, the CBI feigned ignorance of his whereabouts
in the Supreme Court on February 12. By February 13, senior Ministers of the
Government and CBI officials were conferring on how to keep the whole affair
a secret, knowing full well they could not possibly do so.
That the Congress, more so the Prime Minister,
should be interested in protecting Mr Quattrocchi does not come as a surprise;
after all, the Italian's proximity to the Congress president makes him what
in official parlance is known as 'Very Very Important Person'. Let us not
forget that it was another Congress Prime Minister - PV Narasimha Rao - who
allowed Mr Quattrocchi to slip out of India and escape prosecution if not
a prolonged stay in prison. But the manner in which the CBI, which is supposed
to be an autonomous investigating agency, has chosen to crawl before the regime
of the day to appease those who hold the reins of power, is both shameful
and debasing for the entire country. This is not about morally corrupt, spineless
individuals doing the political executive's bidding to secure post-retirement
sinecures. It is about bringing India's criminal justice system into disrepute.
The CBI Director is entirely responsible for letting things come to such a
sorry pass and making a mockery of the CBI's motto. The judiciary must take
note of this, as well as the agency's brazen attempt to mislead the Supreme
Court. To disregard either would be a travesty of justice for which India
has been waiting for nearly two decades.
