Time for PM to act independently in 'Q' case : Arun Jaitley

New Delhi, Mar 15 (UNI) The BJP today said the arrest of Bofors middleman Ottavio Quattrocchi in Argentina was an opportunity for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to act independently without waiting for a nod from the 'extra-constitutional authority'.

BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley making a detailed analysis of the role of absconder Italian businessman, a beneficiary of Bofors kickbacks and his role in getting the defence deal through, said history had provided Dr Singh an opportunity to act independently.

''To stick to his office he has to lose morality or he could risk his office to uphold both values and the law. We will wait for an answer. He has an option of going down in history. Alternatively history will dump him. It is he who has to make the choice,'' Mr Jaitley wrote in Kamal Sandesh, the official party organ.

Mr Jaitley, a former Law Minister in the NDA Government, said the CBI and the Ministry of External Affairs must use the Interpol Protocol for getting the extradition of Quattrocchi, arrested by Argentinian authorities on February 6, 2007.

The Italian businessman according to him can be extradited to India on the principles of 'dual-criminality' because 'corruption' was an offence in India and Argentina. Stating that a treaty would only faciliates extradition and Mr Jaitley reminded how Abu Salem was brought to India even without a treaty with Portugal.

He said having conspired to give a 'judicial burial' to the Quattrocchi case, the UPA attemtped to exonerate him by defreezing his London accounts. The law officers of the UPA government who had given their opinion that the case was no longer maintainable against Quattrocchi had cooperated with the CBI in this deed, he added.

UNI