A bench headed by Justice C K Thakker issued notices to the Centre and the Central Bureau and sought their replies within a week.
The sources said the CBI would do everythng possible to trace the movement of the money to the account, which included questioning Quattrocchi, if required. \n\n
Bofors trail: India to approach Switzerland in Quattrocchi case
"We will wait, study the judgement and then chalk out our future course of action," CBI Director Vijay Shanker told PTI.
The Central Bureau of Investigation sought more time for "true and correct translation" from Spanish to English the order of an Argentinian court rejecting its plea for extradition of Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrocchi, three months after the Supreme Court gave it a time frame to complete the work.
The Bofors ghost returned to haunt the Congress party with an income tax tribunal saying that kickbacks of Rs 41 crore were paid to late Win Chaddha, an agent of the Swedish arms manufacturer and Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Howitzer gun deal and that they are liable to pay tax in India on such income.
He maintained that he has 'never had any contract, or any contact with Bofors'.
Three months after he walked to freedom from Argentina, the Central Bureau of Investigation has sent a fresh communication to Interpol seeking details about Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, accused in the Bofors payoff scam, and "assistance" to nab him.
The Congress on Wednesday scoffed at the Opposition's attempts to link Italy's refusal to send back its two marines to face investigations here with India's failure in getting the extradition of Bofors scam accused Ottavio Quattrocchi in the past saying both are different cases.
After figuring in category of people wanted by Interpol for 12 years, the CBI has asked the international agency to take off Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the multi-crore Bofors payoff scam, from the Red Corner notice list in which he had been put at India's behest.
Journalist and author Chitra Subramaniam has demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) make public its findings from the "box of evidence" received from Switzerland regarding the Bofors payoffs. Subramaniam, author of 'Boforsgate: A Journalist's Pursuit of Truth', expressed concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the evidence, questioning who opened the box, when it was opened, and what it contained. She also raised doubts about the official narrative regarding the alleged bribe in the Bofors case, suggesting the sum of Rs 64 crore may not reflect the full extent of the corruption. Subramaniam also alleged that the CBI planted stories about Hindi film actor Amitabh Bachchan to derail the investigation and launched a political vendetta against the Bachchans. She recalled that Bachchan had come to her home and asked if she had seen his name. The CBI has recently requested assistance from the United States in the case, seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who claims to have crucial details about the scandal. The Bofors scandal, a major bribery case involving the Indian government and the Swedish arms manufacturer Bofors in the 1980s, pertains to allegations of a Rs 64-crore bribe in a Rs 1,437-crore deal for the supply of 400 155mm field Howitzers.
The government does not plan to launch any fresh probe into the Bofors gun deal and Ottavio Quattrocchi stands "discharged" as he could not be extradited even after 20 years of registration of the case, Defence Minister A K Antony said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has sent a judicial request to the United States seeking information from private investigator Michael Hershman, who has claimed to possess crucial details about the Rs 64-crore Bofors bribery scandal of the 1980s. Hershman, the head of the Fairfax Group, had previously expressed his willingness to share information with Indian agencies, alleging that the investigation into the scam was derailed by the then Congress government. The CBI's request comes after previous attempts to obtain information from US authorities yielded no results. This move highlights the continued efforts to uncover the truth behind the decades-old scandal, which has had a significant impact on Indian politics.
Controversial Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, who was a key figure in the Bofors payoffs scandal, has died in Milan following a stroke.
Sushma Swaraj packs in the punches against the Congress.
The Central Bureau of Investigation seeks two weeks time in a Delhi Court for exploring the options available to it following withdrawal of Red Corner notice against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors payoff case.
Quattrocchi was detained and is now on bail in Argentina.
Quattrocchi's lawyer Alejandro Freeland is yet to receive "confirmation" that his client is to face an extradition hearing in Misiones Province, but "expects to hear from the authorities there in the next 24 to 48 hours."
Reserving its order to February 21 on the Central Bureau of Investigation's plea for closing the Bofors payoff case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, a Delhi court pulled up the agency saying its probe has "not moved an inch" in the last 24 years.
The extradition trial began four months after the Italian businessman was detained in Misiones province on February 6, while he was on his way to Brazil.
Opposition government's reaction to a website claim that the key Bofors case accused had hatched a conspiracy with the LTTE to assassinate former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Filing the status report in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Anil Kumar Sisodia, counsel for CBI Navin Kumar Matta stated that Quattrocchi's identity has been confirmed.
Filing the report in the court of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Seema Maini, the agency stated that extradition proceedings were going on expeditiously.
Additional Solicitor General Gopal Subramaniam, who appeared on behalf of the CBI, assured the court that the agency would file its response on the claim made by Agarwal.
The BJP termed the controversy, which has erupted just two days before the third-phase of the general elections, as Congress ka haath Quattrocchi ke saath (Congress is hand-in-hand with Quattrocchi).
After this process, the court would be giving the date for beginning of agruments on Quattrocchi's extradition plea made by CBI.
Party sources said Sonia, addressing the CPP, the first in the Budget session, faulted the main opposition for its stalling tactics in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
His lawyer believes that 'there is significant evidence that the case being brought against Quattrocchi is based on fictitious events.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan asked the Centre to place the documents after translating them.
Embarrassed CBI officials said the order was in Spanish and this might have caused the delay in understanding its implications.
Judge Harichi Doi of the First Court of Eldorado has ordered the prosecution to pay Ottavio Quattrocchi's legal fees.
The London high court had upheld the decision of the British government to freeze on India's request Quattrocchi two accounts having three million Euros and one million dollars respectively.
In a 206-page petition submitted to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Sunday, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy sought to prosecute Congress President Sonia Gandhi under the Prevention of Corruption Act in the Bofors case.
The case related to an RTI application seeking to know the reasons for filing case withdrawal application against one of the prime accused, Italian Businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, in the Delhi high court.
The Bharatiya Janata Party sought to project Swami Aseemanand's reported confession of his involvement in Samjhauta blast as a diversionary tactic by Congress in the wake of latest revelations in the Bofors case, accusing the ruling party of giving leverage to Pakistani terrorists by throwing the blame on Hindu radicals for their acts.
A Delhi court deferred till April 17, pronouncement of its order on a plea of a lawyer objecting to Central Bureau of Investigations' move to withdraw the two-decade-old Bofors pay-off case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
The Central Bureau of Investigation will formally move an application before the Magistrates Court in Delhi on Saturday withdrawing the cases against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the Bofors gun deal, the Union Law Minister Verrappa Moily has said. "The Government has taken a decision for withdrawal of the cases and the Public Prosecutor, on behalf of the CBI, will move an application before the Magistrate's Court on October 3," Moily told PTI in an interview.
The CBI on Tuesday pleaded for the withdrawal of proceedings against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi in the over two-decade-old Bofors pay off case, saying it has got no fresh instructions from the government in the wake of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal order.The ITAT order, which had on Monday said that kickbacks of Rs 41 crore were paid to late Win Chaddha and Quattrocchi in the Howitzer gun deal, was placed before the court.
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