CBI to withdraw cases against Quattrocchhi today

New Delhi, Oct 3 (ANI): The fate of Italian Businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi might be decided on Saturday as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will be pleading before a Delhi court seeking closure of prosecution in Bofors pay off case.

The Public Prosecutor, on behalf of the CBI, will move an application before the Magistrate's Court.

The Central Government decided to close the long hauling Bofors case, which is unable to extract anything out of the investigations by the CBI.

On Wednesday, Union Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily confirmed the government's decision of withdrawing cases against Quattrocchi in the Bofors case.

Moily, who is currently on a trip to London informed the reporters that a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is pending before the Supreme Court so the Solicitor General opine that the matter should be brought to the notice of the Apex Court.

Earlier, in April, the Interpol on the directions of the CBI removed the red corner notice against Quattrocchi.

The controversial Bofors gun deal was a major corruption scandal in India in the 1980s, in which former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and several others were allegedly accused of receiving kickbacks from A B Bofors the Swedish arms manufacturer for it to win the bid to supply the Indian Army with 155 mm howitzer guns.

The court had on February 10, 1997, sent letters to Malaysia and the UAE seeking the arrest and extradition of Quattrocchi.

The CBI had registered an FIR in the Bofors case on January 22, 1990, three years after Swedish Radio on April 16, 1987, had claimed that A B Bofors had paid kickbacks to top Indian politicians and key defence officials to secure the Rs 1,437 crore gun deal.

The contract between the Indian Government and AB Bofors was signed on March 24, 1986. (ANI)