01-14-2006, 12:13 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Explain stand on Quattrocchi: BJP to PM</b>
New Delhi | January 13, 2006
India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain the move to de-freeze the British bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, named as the conduit in the Bofors payoff case, and demanded the law minister's resignation on the issue.
The party also wanted that Additional Solicitor General B. Datta's statement before Britain's Crown Prosecution Service late last month giving New Delhi's green light to de-freeze Quattrocchi's accounts be "immediately reversed".
"If the prime minister was in the know of it, then he is equally culpable. If he was not aware, then it is for him to introspect as to what kind of government he is running," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said at a press conference here.
"We are saddened that such a major decision has been taken (to de-freeze Quattrocchi's accounts) and the prime minister was not aware of this," Jaitley added.
Earlier in the day, informed sources had said that neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor Congress president Sonia Gandhi were aware of the move to de-freeze Quattrochi's accounts.
Demanding Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj's resignation for publicly giving Quattrocchi a clean chit Thursday, Jaitley was equally harsh on the law ministry and its officials.
"They were complete usurpers of power; they were interlopers; they were hustlers who edged out the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and took on themselves to decide whether Quattrocchi was guilty or not," Jaitley said.
Said Bharadwaj Friday: "Unless you have proof, how can you keep the accounts frozen? We cannot speak to Quattrocchi because he is in Malaysia, so how do we get proof?"
Jaitley did not agree.
<b>"Is this because the accused is an Italian and has links with Sonia Gandhi?" he asked, referring to the Congress president's Italian origins. </b>
"This has never happened in the case of an Indian accused (that he had been let off without asking to be freed). Is the law different for Italian accused? Are they outside the ambit of the concept of equality before law?" Jaitley wondered.
The Bofors kickbacks case had been expected to die a natural death after the Delhi High Court last year ruled that the Europe-based Hinduja brothers, who were said to have facilitated the Bofors payoffs, had committed no wrongdoing. It rebounded this week after it was made known that the Indian government said it had no objections to Quattrocchi's accounts being de-frozen.
Britain had frozen the two accounts in 2003 after the Indian government said they could contain part of the Rs.640 million payoffs for securing the Indian Army's order for the Bofors' howitzers.
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New Delhi | January 13, 2006
India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain the move to de-freeze the British bank accounts of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, named as the conduit in the Bofors payoff case, and demanded the law minister's resignation on the issue.
The party also wanted that Additional Solicitor General B. Datta's statement before Britain's Crown Prosecution Service late last month giving New Delhi's green light to de-freeze Quattrocchi's accounts be "immediately reversed".
"If the prime minister was in the know of it, then he is equally culpable. If he was not aware, then it is for him to introspect as to what kind of government he is running," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said at a press conference here.
"We are saddened that such a major decision has been taken (to de-freeze Quattrocchi's accounts) and the prime minister was not aware of this," Jaitley added.
Earlier in the day, informed sources had said that neither Prime Minister Manmohan Singh nor Congress president Sonia Gandhi were aware of the move to de-freeze Quattrochi's accounts.
Demanding Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj's resignation for publicly giving Quattrocchi a clean chit Thursday, Jaitley was equally harsh on the law ministry and its officials.
"They were complete usurpers of power; they were interlopers; they were hustlers who edged out the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and took on themselves to decide whether Quattrocchi was guilty or not," Jaitley said.
Said Bharadwaj Friday: "Unless you have proof, how can you keep the accounts frozen? We cannot speak to Quattrocchi because he is in Malaysia, so how do we get proof?"
Jaitley did not agree.
<b>"Is this because the accused is an Italian and has links with Sonia Gandhi?" he asked, referring to the Congress president's Italian origins. </b>
"This has never happened in the case of an Indian accused (that he had been let off without asking to be freed). Is the law different for Italian accused? Are they outside the ambit of the concept of equality before law?" Jaitley wondered.
The Bofors kickbacks case had been expected to die a natural death after the Delhi High Court last year ruled that the Europe-based Hinduja brothers, who were said to have facilitated the Bofors payoffs, had committed no wrongdoing. It rebounded this week after it was made known that the Indian government said it had no objections to Quattrocchi's accounts being de-frozen.
Britain had frozen the two accounts in 2003 after the Indian government said they could contain part of the Rs.640 million payoffs for securing the Indian Army's order for the Bofors' howitzers.
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