Quattrocchi case expensive wild goose chase: Govt
The Centre and the CBI on Monday rallied jointly seeking dismissal of a PIL against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi for his role in the Rs 65 crore kickback case.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: The Centre and the CBI on Monday rallied jointly seeking dismissal of a PIL against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi for his role in the Rs 65 crore kickback case and told the Supreme Court that "there is no public interest in keeping the proceedings pending" in a dead case.
If PIL petitioner Ajay Agrawal attempted to weave a larger net by seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against a former CBI director for the failure of the investigating agency to inform the apex court in time about the arrest of Quattrocchi in Argentina two years ago, additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam dismissed it as an attempt to create a smoke screen.
When a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice Aftab Alam was repeatedly questioning Agrawal to pin-point how former director Vijay Shanker committed contempt of court, Subramaniam ��� appearing for the Centre and CBI ��� pitched in to say how the entire case had been a "wild goose chase" interspersed with red herrings.
Quattrocchi was arrested twice ��� in Malaysia and then in Argentina ��� by Interpol on the basis of red corner notices issued at the request of CBI. In Malaysia, the NDA government failed to even link the kickback to the bribe given to public servants in India in connection with the purchase of the field gun leading to all three courts dismissing the Indian government's plea for extradition, he said. The Argentine courts just followed the Malaysian courts in rejecting India's extradition plea, he added.
"There is hardly any public interest in the PIL which was originally filed to retrieve the money withdrawn by Quattrocchi after the account was defreezed," Subramaniam said prompting the bench to remark: "Now that the money is
gone what more is left in the PIL?"
If PIL petitioner Ajay Agrawal attempted to weave a larger net by seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against a former CBI director for the failure of the investigating agency to inform the apex court in time about the arrest of Quattrocchi in Argentina two years ago, additional solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam dismissed it as an attempt to create a smoke screen.
When a bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice Aftab Alam was repeatedly questioning Agrawal to pin-point how former director Vijay Shanker committed contempt of court, Subramaniam ��� appearing for the Centre and CBI ��� pitched in to say how the entire case had been a "wild goose chase" interspersed with red herrings.
Quattrocchi was arrested twice ��� in Malaysia and then in Argentina ��� by Interpol on the basis of red corner notices issued at the request of CBI. In Malaysia, the NDA government failed to even link the kickback to the bribe given to public servants in India in connection with the purchase of the field gun leading to all three courts dismissing the Indian government's plea for extradition, he said. The Argentine courts just followed the Malaysian courts in rejecting India's extradition plea, he added.
"There is hardly any public interest in the PIL which was originally filed to retrieve the money withdrawn by Quattrocchi after the account was defreezed," Subramaniam said prompting the bench to remark: "Now that the money is
gone what more is left in the PIL?"
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Critical of the colossal waste of money to trace the kickbacks, Subramaniam said: "The only plus point is that a lot of people travelled to a lot of countries... we went to Bahamas, Channel Islands, Switzerland and many other far-off unheard of shores. Nothing was found. We drew a blank whichever direction we went."Download
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