A two-member CBI team reached Kuala Lumpur yesterday to arrest Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who has been named as one of the recipients of the Bofors pay-offs.
CBI sources said the team has carried an arrest warrant issued by the special judge, Ajit Bharihoke, to be executed on Quattrocchi now based in the Malaysian capital.
The CBI team will get in touch with the Malaysian authorities for execution of the warrant.
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The Interpol has also taken cognizance of the arrest warrant, the sources said, adding that the warrant could also be implemented through the world police body.
Armed with the arrest warrant, the CBI team led by joint director L Revanna Siddaiah left here early yesterday, the sources said.
Asked whether a similar course of action faced Win Chaddha, who was currently in Dubai, official sources said a delegation of Dubai police was likely to arrive here next week to discuss extradition of several accused wanted by the CBI in different cases.Win Chaddhas issue was also likely to crop up in the discussions between the Dubai police and the CBI officials, the sources said. Former CBI joint director K Madhavan had yesterday expressed scepticism over the agencys move to locate Quattrocchi.
He said he was furious the way Quattrocchi was allowed to leave India in the first place on July 29, 1993, despite the Swiss authorities officially conveying to the Indian government that the Italian businessman was one of the appellants in the Swiss courts to block the transfer of crucial bank documents to India.
Meanwhile, Ottavio Quattrocchi yesterday stated emphatically and unequivocally that he had no relationship with Bofors and consequently between him, Bofors and India or any Indian national.
Referring to reports in Indian media linking him with the Bofors affair, he said in a statement since this press campaign against me has spread internationally and gravely damaged my reputation both in India and internationally, I wish to state emphatically that I will take all such legal measures as may be necessary in India and/or in any other appropriate forums to defend my reputation.
The statement, faxed by him from Kuala Lumpur, said it had come to his knowldege that certain Indian media had linked his name with the Bofors affair.
CBI chargesheets five in fodder scam
Press Trust of India PATNA
The Central Bureau of Investigation has chargesheeted five more senior officials and suppliers of the state animal husbandry department (AHD) in the Rs 950-crore fodder scam case. Those chargesheeted are former regional director of AHD, J Bhengraj, former general manager of milk supply (Hotwar), Ram Prakash Ram, former assistant manager, cattle farm (Hotwar), Birsa Orao, former budget-cum-finance officer (Patna), Braj Bhushan Prasad, and a supplier, Mohammed Sayeed.
The chargesheet was filed in connection with a case (no. Rc 32 (a)/96) instituted at Ranchi in connection with alleged fraudulent withdrawals of Rs 15.20 crore from the district treasury between 1990 and 1996.
With this, the CBI has filed a total of ten interim chargesheets in connection with the scam.
Meanwhile, the Patna High Court, monitoring the investigation into the multi-crore fraud, has asked the CBI to submit its report highlighting, among other things, the progress made in completing the inquiry into the conspiracy angle of the scam by February 20.