CBI sending team to Argentina, asks JNU to translate papers

The Argentinians have given the CBI a lengthy list of demands, seeking documents and evidence before the one-month detention period of Italian businessman...

The Argentinians have given the CBI a lengthy list of demands, seeking documents and evidence before the one-month detention period of Italian businessman and Bofors-accused Ottavio Quattrocchi runs out on March 5.

In all, there are some 30 sets of documents which have been picked by the CBI to make out a case of conspiracy and cheating against Quattrocchi.

The CBI is sending a two-member team, comprising a senior law officer and a SP, to hand over translated documents to Buenos Aires. The team is expected to leave New Delhi in the next few days.

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CBI officials say translation of the “evidence” in Spanish — which includes Indian court rulings in the Bofors case, copies of bank documents received from Switzerland and “evidence” linking Quattrocchi’s off-shore firm, AE Services, to the Bofors pay-offs—are “voluminous” and could run into 300-400 pages.

Translation of these documents began on February 10, three days after the

CBI admits to having received official intimation of Quattrocchi being taken into preventive custody.

The search for Spanish translators narrowed down to the Faculty of Foreign Languages at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, which has been used by the agency earlier for similar assignments. “The translation job was not a simple one since the documents are of technical and financial nature,” a senior CBI official said.

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It is learnt that both faculty members as well as students of JNU’s Spanish department have been enlisted for the assignment. A team of seven or eight Spanish translators are still on the job and CBI officers say the translated “evidence” will reach Buenos Aires “well before the deadline”.

CBI sources also said that despite the de-freezing of Quattrocchi’s accounts in London, the agency was still trying to get “clinching evidence” from Switzerland to link the money trail from AE Services to Lausanne and then to his London bank accounts where Rs 21 crore was deposited and had to be returned to him last year for want of evidence. It is learnt that following a fresh Letter Rogatory (LR) being sent to Switzerland in April 2006, several reminders have been sent through the Ministry of External Affairs, the last one earlier this month. The response from the Swiss side, sources said, has been positive.

The agency also continues its pursuit of Quattrocchi in Italy, especially after he was interviewed by an Indian TV channel in Milan last year. The CBI informed Italian authorities about Quattrocchi’s TV appearance and were told that information on his presence in Italy was being verified.