The government will make a statement in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday on the detention in Argentina of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi, one of the accused in the $6.3 million Bofors case.
This was disclosed by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi at a press conference in New Delhi on Monday, after the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day. This was subsequent to Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav's presenting of the railway budget, amidst protest from the opposition parties.
"As far as this government is concerned, we are of the view that the law should take its own course. There was no delay in taking action. On Feburary 6, we came to know about the detention of Quattrocchi's and a day later, the CBI swung into action. The government will make a statement on this manner in on both Houses of Parliament. We are not going to do anything in a hush-hush manner," Dasmunshi said in response to a question about why the government kept the arrest of Quattrocchi under wraps for nearly 18 days before it was leaked out to the media.
He cautioned Bhartiya Janata Party's former president and deputy prime minister L K Advani to count his own days because in its reply, his inaction on getting Quattrocchi from Malaysia would be highlighted by the government.
The minister disclosed that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had attempted to prevent the opposition parties from disrupting the railway budget presentation. He added that the government even offered to let the leader of the Oposition make his statement after Lalu had made his presentation but they had they had their mind set and would not settle anything less than cancellation of question hour.
"This is the first time that the railway budget has been disrupted," the minister said.
