Extradition treaty with Argentina in Bofors scandal: Aggarwal

New Delhi, Feb 27 (UNI) Ajay Aggarwal, a Supreme Court advocate, today told the court that there existed an extradition treaty between India and Argentina in the Bofors gun scandal.

Mr Aggarwal made the disclosure before a bench comprising Justices C K Thakkar and P K Balasubramanyan that the government was not pursuing the process for extradition of Ottavio Quottrocchi, the main accused in Rs 64 crore Bofors gun scandal, as the government was misleading the country by saying that there was no extradition treaty with Argentina.

He also told the court that CBI had the information as early as on February 16 that the Italian businessman may be released on bail but it did not care to inform the authorities in Argentina that the fugitive was to be extradited to India to face trial in the scandal.

The court, however, refused to say anything today and directed the applicant to give a copy of the documents to Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, if he so desires and the court will wait for the CBI response on the issue.

The Italian fugitive, wanted for over a decade, in Rs 1,400 crore bofors howitzer gun deal, was detained by Argentina authorities on February 6 and later released on bail on February 23 on condition that he will not leave the country but, the CBI failed to inform the court about the development on February 12 as well as February 26 when the matter came up for a hearing.

The two London-based bank accounts of Quattrocchi were defrozen in January 2006 and the kickback money was allowed to be withdrawn.

The government has already spent about Rs 250 crore on the investigation of the scandal of Rs 64 crore.

UNI