Government is helping Quattrocchi, alleges BJP

New Delhi, June 12: Stepping up its campaign against the Congress-led coalition government at the Centre for 'helping' Italian fugitive and prime accused in the Bofors payoffs scandal, Ottavio Quattrocchi, the BJP today said the nation was paying heavily for the ''negative'' approach of the Government on the issue.

Referring to an Argentinian court's verdict to pay legal expenses to Quattrocchi, the party said it was a slap on the face of the nation that the Government was made to pay court expenditure to the Bofors scam accused as CBI failed to put up case properly.

Party spokesman Prakash Javadekar maintained that the Manmohan Singh Government was trying to save the Italian businessman whose connection with the Sonia Gandhi family was well-known.

"It is a classic case that we have gone to Argentina to bring Quattrocchi back but made to pay heavy amount towards court expenses. It is only because the case was never put up in the right manner deliberately. Our charge is that the Government is not putting the case strongly and properly," he added.

The party had demanded a judicial probe by a sitting Supreme Court judge into the failure to get Quattrocchi arrested so far and secure his extradition from Argentina. It alleged that the Government was compromising national interest to save Quattrocchi. The party expressed shock that the defense counsel ''presented the Argentinian court all the papers and opinions available only in secret files of Government of India.''

UNI