June 09, 2007 - An Argentinian lower court has rejected India's demand for extradition of Bofors accused Ottavio Quattrocchi. The decision came after two days of arguments put forward by the CBI counsel.
 
The detailed reasons for the judgment will be given by the court on June 13. The CBI has five days to appeal in the Argentinian Supreme Court at Buenos Aires.

''We thought it would be contrary to the defence's interests and because of that, the Indian state will appeal the sentence before the Supreme Court,'' said Miguel Almeyra, Attorney Representing India.

However, the court has barred Quattrocchi from leaving Argentina till June 18, the time within which India can challenge the judgement.

''We are very happy and celebrating. Quattrocchi will be present in court as long as he is required,'' said Allejandro Freeland, Quattrocchi's lawyer.

He added that the CBI's petition has irregularities and that India must stop political persecution and harassment.

''I am feeling very happy and I was very confident that the judiciary in Argentina would do justice and this is what happened. I feel that I have been persecuted for 20 years and this is something terrible. But in any case, I am still happy,'' said Quattrocchi.

CBI's course of action

The Argentinian lower court has given a 29-page order in Spanish and the CBI has yet to translate the order.

Meanwhile, the CBI director Vijay Shankar has said that the investigating agency will study the order before deciding on the further course of action.

CBI did not expect this, as it is for the second time that Quattrocchi's extradition has been turned down. First it was Malaysia, which turned down CBI's extradition request in 2003.

Also, Delhi HC had earlier passed two orders and dropped bribery and corruption charges against him. So, the CBI is only chasing conspiracy charges against him.

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.

Quattrocchi, who is out on conditional bail, has been maintaining that there was no veracity in the claims against him by the CBI in the Bofors case.

The hearing of the plea for Quattrocchi's extradition to India began in the Argentinian court on March 23.

Quattrocchi had opposed the move, saying it was a politically motivated case. The CBI had submitted a 250-page extradition request to the Argentinian government after his arrest.

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