Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors payoffs case, has been taken off the CBI list of wanted persons, sparking a protest by Opposition parties which today demanded an immediate probe into the working of the agency for the last five years.
Following a communication from the CBI, the Interpol has taken Quattrocchi's name off the Red Corner notice lingering for the last one decade.
BJP prime ministerial candidate L K Advani said "this is a very serious issue. It is not a question of Quattrocchi alone but the entire role of the agency during the last five years which should be probed."
Putting up a brave defence, the Government said it had no role to play in the move by the agency which took the decision on the basis of a legal opinion given by Attorney General Milon Banerjee in October last year.
CBI spokesman Harsh Bahal said, "The case has been under trial in the courts since 1999. CBI has taken action on the basis of legal advice of the highest order. We will inform the competent court on the next date of hearing (April 30, 2009)."
Describing BJP's allegation as politically motivated, Union Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj said the CBI acted on the opinion provided by the Attorney General.
"This is a politically motivated allegation. The Government has no role in the judicial process....Law will take its own course," Bhardwaj told reporters here.
CBI had approached Attorney General last year for an opinion as to whether to continue with the Red Corner notice issued by Interpol against Quattrocchi as the notice has to be renewed every five years.
Banerjee cited inability of CBI to seek Quattrocchi's extradition on two occasions --first in Malaysia in 2003 and then in Argentina in 2007--and opined that the judgements in both the cases indicated that there were no good grounds for extradition.
"....The warrant cannot remain in force forever. Therefore, the warrant of February 1997 would lose its validity, particularly in view of successive failed attempts of the CBI to get the accused extradited from Malaysia and recently from Argentina,” Banerjee, the country's top law officer said.
The Italian businessman, in his mid-60's, was named by the CBI in 1999 as an accused and, on the basis of a 1997 non-bailable warrant, it had sought a Red Corner notice against him.