By IANS
New Delhi : Rebuffed by an Argentinean court that dismissed its plea to extradite Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors payoff scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was Friday unsure of whether it would challenge the ruling.
The First Judge of El Dorado in Misiones province of Argentina, Judge Harichi Doi, Thursday cited the validity of a 1997 Interpol Red Corner notice as one of the reasons for rejecting the extradition plea.
In a double whammy for the CBI, the court also ordered the prosecution to pay Quattrocchi's legal fees.
The Argentine court cited a similar rejection by a Malaysian court and the Indian government's own no objection certificate to British authorities last year to defreeze Quattrocchi's frozen account in London.
After the adverse ruling, red-faced CBI officials here went into a huddle to examine the possibilities of mounting another challenge.
"We have just received the court's judgement and are closely examining its implications. We still have some days to take a decision on filing an appeal against this judgement," a CBI official told IANS, adding that the agency was unsure if another appeal was worthwhile.
"We really have to examine if we have good grounds to appeal, otherwise the effort will be wasted. Also, we will not be able to reinforce the documentation that we have on Quattrocchi," said a CBI official.
It appears that the prosecution will have their work cut out if they go ahead with their appeal to the Argentine Supreme Court.
One reason for the Argentinean court rejecting the CBI's plea was the "questionable validity" of the Red Corner notice issued by Interpol in 1997 on the basis of an arrest warrant issued by a Delhi court.
According to sources privy to the judgement, the Argentine court had questioned the validity of the Interpol notice to arrest Quattrocchi saying it had lost its relevance in the wake of the Delhi High Court rulings in the Bofors case in February 2004 and again in May 2005 – which gave the other accused in the case, the Hinduja Brothers, a clean chit.
The Argentine court, in fact, went to the extent of ticking off its own law-enforcing agency for detaining Quattrocchhi on the basis of what it described as an invalid arrest warrant.
The court said the CBI should have got the Interpol notice renewed on the basis of a fresh arrest warrant.
In the wake of Quattrocchi's detention in Argentina in February, the CBI had a fresh arrest warrant issued. But it did not hold water as Quattrocchi's arrest in Iguazu in Misiones on Feb 6 was on the basis of the old warrant.