Jayalalithaa urges PM to act without 'fear or favour'

Chennai, Feb 24 (UNI) Flaying the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for having kept Italian businessman and Bofors payoffs scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi's detention in Argentina a ''closely guarded secret'', AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa today urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to act without ''fear or favour'' on the issue.

''The general public apprehend that Quattrocchi may not be extradited and brought back to India at all and that yet another drama will be enacted to let him escape, as has happened on so many earlier occasions,'' she said in a statement here.

She claimed the Prime Minister convened an urgent meeting on February 13 to discuss the issue with top intelligence officers and other senior ministers but nothing was revealed to the press.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was left with no other alternative except to admit, by a belated statement, that Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina on February 6, 2007, after the sensational news was reported by the Indian media last night.

Pointing out that there was no extradition treaty between India and Argentina, Ms Jayalalithaa said legal formalities had to be fulfilled, as required under the Argentine Extradition Act.

After observing mandatory legal and diplomatic formalities, an extradition request had to be presented through the diplomatic channel to the designated court within 30 days of Quattrocchi's detention, she said.

''In Argentina, a person wanted by another nation can be kept in custody for 30 days only and within that time the extradition arrangement should be completed. Yet deliberately time is being lost,'' the former Chief Minister charged.

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