The Argentinean government on Saturday named a new lawyer to plead the Central Bureau of Investigation's case for extradition of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi.
Quattrocchi is relying on the judgments given in India in the Bofors cases and the failed extradition attempt in Malaysia to scuttle efforts to send him to India.
Lilian Delgado was appointed counsel for pleading India's case in place of Carlos Daneri because of jurisdictional issues. The new woman lawyer hails from Misiones province where the extradition proceedings may take place, Indian Ambassador to Argentina Pramatesh Rath said.
News reports earlier said that Daneri, who speaks only Spanish, is not comfortable with English and was not fully conversant with Quattrocchi case details.
Quattrocchi's Argentinian lawyer Alejandro Freeland, who claimed that both he and his client are confounded at the turn of events that resulted in Quattrocchi's arrest in Argentina, told PTI that he has not been contacted by the CBI, nor had access to the papers that have been supplied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here in Buenos Aires.
He, however, has been researching past precedents in cases involving the Bofors arms deal and believes that there is significant evidence that the case being brought against Quattrocchi is based on fictitious events, this view being supported by a judge in the New Delhi high court in rulings in 2004 and 2005 during the Hindujas brothers' Bofors trial.
"It is likely that these cases, and the failed Malaysian extradition attempt will form the basis of Quattrocchi's defence should the case proceed to a hearing," he said.
