No pressure on CBI in bofors case : Priyanka
April 28th, 2009 - 7:20 pm ICT by IANS
Rae Bareli (Uttar Pradesh), April 28 (IANS) The Congress had put no pressure on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Bofors gun payoff case, Priyanka Gandhi said Tuesday as the party came under attack for Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi being dropped from the agency’s wanted list.
“Congress has never put any pressure on CBI in the Bofors case,” Priyanka, who is campaigning for her mother Congress president Sonia Gandhi, told reporters here.
“What do these issues have to do with elections?” she asked as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) hit out at the Congress for reducing the CBI to the “Congress Bureau of Investigation”.
The 12-year Interpol Red Corner Notice, or lookout notice, against Quattrocchi was taken off from the wanted section of the agency’s website reportedly on the legal advice of Attorney General Milon Banerjee in October last year. It is not known exactly when his name was withdrawn.
According to Banerjee, the investigating agency did not have any basis to keep Quattrocchi’s name listed in the Interpol Red Corner Notice especially when it lost the case for his extradition from Argentina in February 2007.
The case against Quattrocchi, known to be close to late Rajiv Gandhi, who was prime minister in 1987 when the bribery scandal broke, and his wife Sonia, has taken tortuous twists and turns after he was named in a CBI chargesheet as the conduit for the Bofors kickbacks.
But he has managed to evade interrogation.
- CBI to stop prosecution against Quattrocchi (Roundup) - Sep 29, 2009
- Chronology of Bofors scandal - Jan 03, 2011
- It was only question of time before quashing Quattrocchi proceedings - Sep 29, 2009
- CBI gets two weeks for decision on Quattrocchi case - Sep 08, 2009
- CBI drops Quattrocchi from wanted list, BJP on offensive - Apr 28, 2009
- 25 years of India's 'Watergate': The Bofors scandal (Second Lead, superseding previous story) - Apr 25, 2012
- 25 years of India's 'Watergate': The Bofors scandal (Lead) - Apr 25, 2012
- Chronology: Bofors graft row over last 25 years - Apr 25, 2012
- Bofors storm rages again, Congress under fire (Roundup) - Apr 28, 2009
- CBI seeks two months to study options to nail Quattrocchi (Lead) - Apr 30, 2009
- Quattrocchi: A 'fugitive' who will now walk free in India - Mar 04, 2011
- CBI seeks two months to consider Quattrocchi red corner notice - Apr 30, 2009
- Delhi court pulls up CBI in Bofors scam case - Feb 10, 2011
- The scandal that shook India two decades ago (Bofors Chronology) - Mar 04, 2011
- Bofors case: Quattrocchi no longer on CBI's most wanted list - Apr 28, 2009
Tags: banerjee, bofors case, bofors gun, bribery scandal, cbi, central bureau of investigation, congress bureau, congress president sonia gandhi, extradition, interrogation, investigating agency, italian businessman, kickbacks, milon, ottavio quattrocchi, priyanka gandhi, rae bareli, rajiv gandhi, uttar pradesh, wife sonia