CBI documents were too flimsy to extradite Quattrocchi: Malaysia

The CBI team, which visited Kuala Lumpur to secure Ottavio Quattrocchi's arrest, provided too little evidence to take any immediate action against the controversial Italian businessman in the Bofors kickbacks case.

According to the Malaysian news agency Bernama, which quoted an unnamed Malaysian police official, very flimsy information was submitted to the authorities in Kuala Lumpur for the extradition of Quattrocchi, who along with his wife Maria, has been named as a recipient of part of the Rs 640 million payoffs in the 1986 gun deal.

The refusal of the Malaysian authorities to execute either the arrest warrant of the Delhi trial court or the red corner alert issued by Interpol against the Quattrocchis led to the CBI team calling it quits.

All that the team's week-long stay in the Malaysian capital obtained was a statement from the Italian. The team, led by Additional CBI Director N Revenna Siddaiah, had to request Quattrocchi for this statement to which he readily agreed.

The Malaysian police official, who is with the legal prosecution division, was commenting on reports that the Malaysian police could not take any action against the Italian couple over their alleged involvement in the multi-million dollar scandal.

''It is not that we do not want to help the Bureau," the Malaysian police officer said. "We are doing all we can...But the information that is available now is not enough to take any action.''

He said the two CBI officers, who met the Malaysian police last week to hand over a warrant of arrest and extradition for the Italians, were told to come up with more concrete facts.

''If wrongfully arrested, Quattrocchi can sue us and this will tarnish the police's reputation. Also, this case involves India and not us, so any wrong move could affect relations (with Italy),'' he said.

The police passed on the CBI documents to the Malaysian attorney general's office on Saturday to study the extradition request.

India and Malaysia do not have an extradition treaty, so the Quattrocchis can only be deported through a court order. Under Malaysian procedure, the attorney general's office must recommend to the home minister to apply for a court order.