'CBI has no case against Quattrochi'

Legal opinion has emerged that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had no evidence to connect Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrochi with the alleged Bofors payoffs case and that the evidence it had would not stand in a court of law.

"The CBI was unable to show that the funds (Rs 21 crore frozen in the UK bank) had any link with the offence alleged. It is clear that even as regards Quattrochi there is no authentic evidence to connect him with the alleged offence and the case against him cannot stand in a court of law," Additional Solicitor-General KP Pathak had said in October.

However, stepping up the offensive, the National Democratic Alliance leaders decided to meet President APJ Abdul Kalam to protest the government's role in the case.

They also decided to write a letter to UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi urging her to ensure Quattrochi was brought back to India to face trial.

On the other hand, British authorities have said the Indian government would have to make a fresh request seeking a freeze on the controversial bank accounts of Quattrochi. "... no, an order cannot be reinstated. It would have to be a fresh application satisfying the usual criteria," a spokeswoman of the Crown Prosecution Service said.

The legal opinion was given when the CBI was debating whether it should challenge the Delhi High Court order discharging the Hinduja brothers.

Commenting on the evidence of the CBI in the Bofors payoffs case, he said the CBI had failed in following the procedure prescribed under the Indian Evidence Act thereby "frustrating the entire proceedings, initiated by it and in the process wasted time and public money".

Referring to the extradition proceedings against Quattrochi, Pathak had said, "The judicial proceedings in Malaysia have acquired finality.... Quattrochi, whose extradition has been refused by the competent court of the requested state (Malaysia) cannot be a fugitive criminal. In that situation, fresh extradition proceedings against Quattrochi would be misconceived."

"In the absence of any authenticated documents in terms of the evidence act, I am of the opinion, that proceedings against all the accused such as Hindujas, Bofors and Quattrochi will be nothing but an abuse of the process of the court," he had said.

The implications of Pathak's order are clear: that it was the inefficiency and ineptitude of the CBI rather than a systematic campaign to restore his money to him the reason behind the defreezing of his London accounts. In the High Court on December 22, this is exactly what the CBI had argued, citing the legal opinion it had received.

Earlier in the day, the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party changed its stance and claimed that Law Minister HR Bhardwaj was a victim of the case. The one really culpable was Congress President Sonia Gandhi and she should resign, the party said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also came in for criticism by the BJP. "The Prime Minister was afraid of being subjected to intense questioning in the national capital and hence chose to make a statement in Guwahati," Party General secretary Arun Jaitley said, addressing a demonstration organised by the BJP to protest the UPA government's "clean chit" to Quattrocchi.

Charging the Centre with "pressuring" the CBI in the matter, he claimed "it was for the first time that the investigative agency was forced to bail out the government of the day."

Training his guns on the prime minister, Jaitley said "the prime minister is in office but not in power." Addressing the gathering, BJP Parliamentary party spokesman VK Malhotra said, "It is surprising that the Prime Minister is unaware of the happenings in this government, be it the Volcker issue or the present Quattrochi issue."