Ottavio Quattrocchi Dies in Milan,Italy Friday July 12,2013

Ottavio Quattrocchi (74), who was main accused in the Bofors scam, died in Milan on Friday July 12,2013, thus bringing to an end a quarter-century-old saga of political bickering between the Congress and its rivals over the infamous gun deal(Bofors Scam)

Note

• The $285 million Bofors gun deal was signed between the Indian Govt and the Swedish arms firm in 1986

• Swedish radio came up with the bribery allegations in 1987

• The news was followed up in painstaking detail by The Hindu

• The CBI registered the case in 1990

• Ottavio Quattrocchi left India in 1993 out of fear of being arrested

• The CBI managed to get a Red Corner Notice issued against him by the Interpol and attempts were made to extradite him — first from Malaysia in 2003 and then from Argentina in 2007

• The Central Govt in Sep 2009 told the Supreme Court that it had decided to withdraw the case against Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, an accused in the Rs. 64-crore Bofors pay-offs case, which is pending before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, New Delhi.Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam made this submission before a Bench of Chief Justice K. G. Balakrishnan and Justices P. Sathasivam and B.S. Chauhan. He said all efforts to extradite Mr. Quattrocchi from Malaysia and Argentina had failed and the Red Corner Notice issued against him was also revoked

• While discharging Ottavio Quattrocchi in 2011, theChief Metropolitan Magistrate Court, New Delhi noted that the CBI, despite “spending through the nose for about 21 years, has not been able to put forward legally sustainable evidence with regard to conspiracy in the matter. Further, in the case of Mr. Quattrocchi, as against the alleged kickback of Rs. 64 crore he received, the CBI had by 2005 already spent around Rs. 250 crore on the investigation, which is sheer wastage of public money.”