No extradition of Ottavio Quattrocchi: Argentina

Eldorado (Argentina), June 9: An Argentine court today deniedIndia's request to extradite an Italian businessman suspected ofinvolvement in a highly publicized weapons-kickback scheme from the1980s. Federal Judge Mario Hachiro Doi ruled that Ottavio Quattrocchishould not be extradited to India, but he did not immediately explainthe decision. A written ruling is expected in the coming days.

The lawyer representing India, Miguel Almeyra, told Reuters he will appeal the decision with Argentina's Supreme Court.

Quattrocchi, 68, was detained in Argentina in February under a1997 Interpol warrant and India formally requested that Argentinaextradite him in March.

Indian investigators say Quattrocchi took seven million dollar inbribes as a middleman in the 1.2 billion dollar purchase of artilleryfrom Swedish arms maker Bofors AB in 1986 for the Indian army.

Quattrocchi has denied any wrongdoing in the Bofors matter, andIndia failed in its efforts to have him extradited from Malaysia fiveyears ago.

''India will appeal this decision because it thinks Mr Quattrocchishould face trial in Indian courts for once and for all,'' Almeyra saidafter the ruling in the northern Argentine town of Eldorado in Misionesprovince.

Almeyra said Quattrocchi fled prosecution and has been a fugitiveof justice -- a charge which Quattrocchi's chief defence lawyer,Alejandro Freeland, has denied.

Quattrocchi was known as a friend of Sonia Gandhi, the powerful Italian-born chief of India's Congress Party.

Opposition lawmakers in India accused the Congress Party-ledcoalition of hiding news of Quattrocchi's detention in February toallow a one-month deadline for seeking his extradition to pass.

The arms scandal harmed the reputation of Gandhi's late husband,then-Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and contributed to his government'selectoral defeat in 1989.

An Indian court exonerated Rajiv Gandhi of wrongdoing in the case in 2004, 13 years after he was assassinated.

Reuters

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