By IANS
New Delhi : The Interpol notice against fugitive Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, wanted in the multimillion Bofors gun pay-off scam here, was still valid, the global body’s Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said here Wednesday.
Such notices are not withdrawn until the requesting country asks for that, Noble told reporters when queried about the warrant against Quattrocchi.
He was addressing a press meet on the sidelines of the 7th Interpol Conference on Cyber Crime here.
“Interpol notices are respected by 198 countries and follow the prescribed procedure irrespective of the fact that accused had managed to walk free from any particular country earlier,” the secretary general said.
Last month Quattrocchi had left Argentina for Milan after the Indian government withdrew its appeal against an Argentine court’s rejection of its extradition petition.
Quattrocchi had been detained at Iguazu airport on Feb 6 on the basis of the Interpol notice, while in transit to Buenos Aires.
CBI maintains that Quattrocchi took $7 million in bribes as a middleman in the $1.2 billion purchase of artillery from Swedish arms maker Bofors AB for the Indian Army.