SC issues notice to Centre on Quattrocchi

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to explain what steps it was taking to bring to India Ottavio Quattrocchi...

The Supreme Court today asked the Centre to explain what steps it was taking to bring to India Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Bofors case detained in Argentina on an Interpol red-corner notice.

A bench headed by Justice C.K. Thakker issued notice to the Centre and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking a reply within a week.

Accepting the notices, Additional Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam told the court: “Already a special team of two members is being sent to Buenos Aires to seek Quattrocchi’s extradition at the earliest. Though India does not have an extradition treaty with Argentina, we are taking necessary steps.”

Story continues below this ad

The notices came on an application filed on Saturday by Ajay Agrawal seeking a status report on the steps taken for Quattrocchi’s extradition.

Agrawal also said that, although Quattrocchi was detained at the Iguazu airport in Buenos Aires on February 6, the government did not inform the court when it made a statement on the case a few days later, which amounted to contempt of court. He expressed fears that since India did not have an extradition treaty with Argentina, Quattrocchi may get away, or the CBI may allow his accounts to be defreezed.