CBI's brief is to lose Quattrocchi case : Arun Jaitley

New Delhi, Mar 15 (UNI) Attacking the CBI severely for its handling of the issue regarding Ottavio Quattrocchi, the Italian middleman and a close friend of Rajiv Gandhi's family, the BJP today alleged the investigating agency's brief is to lose the 'Q' case.

''CBI's loss will be the UPA's victory. A CBI success will be a political suicide for the UPA,'' BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley writing in Kamal Sandesh, the party's mouthpiece observed. Why did the CBI collude with the political executive in keeping Quattrocchi's arrest last month in Argentina a secret? He asked.

The CBI's explanation for its delay that it was due to translation from Spanish to English was an 'eye wash'. Did not Indian Embassy in Argentina inform the Centre about Quattrocchi's arrest in language other than Spanish? An investigative agency which could not translate a document from Spanish to English within a day or two, cannot be trusted as India's premier investigative agency,'' Mr Jaitley remarked.

If the case is to salvaged, the CBI must act honestly, independently and not consult UPA's law officers. It must appoint independent lawyers to appear for it. It should not score self goals and spoil its own investigation and support Mr Ajay Aggarwal's petition before the Supreme Court seeking to overrule the fourth and fifth erroneous judgements of Delhi High Court on the issue, the BJP leader said.

The former Law Minister in the NDA government said the apex court had upturned the first three judgements that sought to quash the Bofors investigation on the ground that the CBI was not a validly constituted agency. The HC's second judgement had quashed the FIR on Bofors purchase. The third order of the Delhi H C was to uphold that the CBI could not have filed a chargesheet without sanction from the Vigillance Commission.

Surmising that the CBI and the UPA held back vital information on the arrest for 17 long days in February to save the ruling party from facing the electorate in Punjab and Uttarakhand under embarassing circumstances. The UPA cannot afford to get him to India as the money trail might link those in the UPA. The deliberate delay of the CBI was intended to put up a ''weak and time barred defence'' before competent authorities in Argentina for Quattrocchi's extradition, he added.

UNI