CBI team in Kuala Lumpur to grill Quattrocchi

A two-member Central Bureau of Investigation team, consisting of Additional Director N Revenna Siddaiah and Deputy Inspector General N S Wasan, has arrived in Kuala Lumpur. The sleuths are in the process of seeking the Malaysian government's permission to interrogate the Quattrocchis in connection with the Bofors case.

CBI sources said Ottavio Quattrochchi -- the former chief representative in India of the state-owned Italian firm, Snam Progetti SPA -- and his wife, Maria, will be questioned thoroughly in the light of their transactions revealed by the 500-odd page secret Swiss bank documents.

Their examination would be subject to permission by the Malaysian authorities, agency sources said.

On Tuesday, the CBI announced that the Quattrocchis are among the five recipients of the Rs 640 million payoffs in the 1986 gun deal with A B Bofors.

The CBI team has delivered the letter rogatory issued by a designated court in Delhi on February 6 seeking deportation of the Quattrocchis to the Malaysian government.

Pending a formal order on the deportation of the Quattrocchis to India to face trial in the Bofors bribery case, the CBI has sought the Malaysian government's permission to examine the couple.

The CBI officers -- Siddhaiah heads the CBI special investigation team probing the Bofors case -- are also believed to be armed with attested photocopies of the Swiss bank papers revealing the alleged payoffs to the couple by Bofors in connection with the howitzer deal with India.

CBI sources said the team was trying to question the Quattrocchis immediately as past experience had shown that extradition proceedings were arduous and took an unduly long time.

The arrest warrant issued against Win Chadha, another alleged recpient of the kickbacks, as far back as 1990 by a magistrate was quashed by the Delhi high court the following year.

A special leave petition filed with the Supreme Court subsequently challenging the high court order is still pending with the apex court.

The CBI has requested the law and justice ministry to ensure early listing of the petition for hearing.

CBI sources, meanwhile, do not rule out sending another team to Dubai, to questioning Chadha and his son Harsh. Chadha, a former Bofors agent in India, stated this week that he is prepared to be questioned in Dubai by the Bureau.

Chadha has, however, denied that he or his son had received any commission from Bofors.

On the other hand, Quattrocchi was not content with just making a similar denial. While he earlier refused to state anything except saying that ''these (the CBI disclosures of names) are mere stories,'' he sent a fax message to United News of India on Friday, threatening to take legal action against the move to defame him.

CBI sources said Quattrocchi's confrontationist attitude would hinder the smooth progress of the Bureau's investigations.

The CBI is reported to have sent out the arrest warrant against the Quattrocchis the same day to the Indian embassy in Kuala Lumpur and the Interpol office there.