Three months after he walked to freedom from Argentina, the Central Bureau of Investigation has sent a fresh communication to Interpol seeking details about Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, accused in the Bofors payoff scam, and "assistance" to nab him.
The fresh letter was sent providing details about the non-bailable warrant issued against him by a Delhi court and a brief summary about the decades-old Rs 64 crore payoff scam in which he is wanted for trial in India.
"We have sent in the request and also said that we suspect him to be Italy. Similarly, Interpol's Rome unit may be approached for furnishing details about him and seeking assistance in nabbing him," a senior CBI official said on condition of anonymity.
The request comes despite India losing extradition cases against Quattrocchi twice -- Malaysia (in early 2000) and Argentina recently -- for its failure to provide details as to how the Italian businessman had allegedly cheated the exchequer.
Quattrocchi had left for his home in Italy on Independence Day, 2007, after the Indian case for his extradition was rejected by an Argentinian court.
Though officially CBI was maintaining a studied silence on the issue, some of the officials, associated with probe, admitted that the fresh request was a mere formality.
Italian authorities have already intimated New Delhi that their law prohibits extradition of any of its citizens for trial, the official said.
In a related development, the CBI has sent a request to Indian envoy in Argentina asking for a certified copy of the judgment delivered by a first court at El Dorado in August 2007.
While Argentinian authorities were making preparations for approaching the Supreme Court, New Delhi, informed through diplomatic channel, that it was not willing to pursue the legal battle in higher courts of that country.
Quattrocchi was detained at Iguazu airport in Argentina's Misiones province on February 6, 2007, on the basis of a Red Corner Notice issued by Interpol at the behestof the CBI.
The CBI had sought more time from the Supreme Court on November 26 for "true and correct translation" from Spanish to English the order of the Argentinian court rejecting its plea for extradition of Quattrocchi.