By IANS,
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has withdrawn 16 cases, including the high-profile Bofors scam, in the past three years, parliament was informed Wednesday.
Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Prithviraj Chavan told the Lok Sabha that on the basis of CBI report and advice of both Attorney General and Solicitor General, the government gave its consent to withdraw the court case against Ottavio Quattrochhi, the accused in the Bofors gun payoff case.
Quattrocchi was accused in the case relating to the alleged payment of Rs.640 million as commission in the 1987 howitzer deal. He was named in a CBI charge sheet in 1999 as the conduit for the Bofors bribe and was accused of receiving millions of dollars in commission for helping fix the $1.4 billion gun deal.
Most of the cases that were withdrawn are at least 20 years old. The accused in these cases are either not traceable or could not be extradited as India does not have an extradition treaty with many countries.