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Quattrocchi: CBI director blames Jaitley

By Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi
August 15, 2007 22:04 IST

The Central Bureau of Investigation's director has said that Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley and his predecessors in the agency are to blame for building a weak case against the Ottavio Quattrocchi, the prime accused in the Bofors arms scam.

Quattrocchi walked away after India failed to appeal on time against an Argentine court's judgment that there was not enough ground to extradite him.

When asked whether he was embarrassed by the development, CBI Director Vijay Shankar told rediff.com: "No, I am not! Why should I feel ashamed about him being released? My predecessors in the CBI and Arun Jaitley had created a weak case."

Shankar, however, added that the case against Quattrocchi still stands in India.

He also said, "If there is not enough evidence in the case, not much can be done. Only the government can take decision to withdraw the case against him."

In an interview to a television channel from Argentina, Quattrocchi has blasted the CBI. 'The warrant of arrest they produced was a farce that the CBI could not support on record, and that's why their action was more or less illegal,' he had said.

He has also said that, 'I am not the target for sure, I am the means to reach somebody -- either a politician or a industrialist. Their aim is to reach one of them and not Ottavio Quattrocchi."

Meanwhile, Jaitley has alleged that the CBI is working in collusion with Quattrocchi.

Sheela Bhatt in New Delhi

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