NEW DELHI, 18 January 2006 — A day after the Supreme Court directed the federal government and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to ensure that Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi did not withdraw money from his accounts in a London bank, Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee yesterday said the government did not have any “jurisdiction” over other countries.
“We can at best make a request to them (UK authorities),” he told reporters after watching a national Cadet Corps parade here.
Asked if the government will make any formal request to British authorities to ensure Quattrocchi did not withdraw money from his accounts, he said legal experts would be consulted on the issue.
Quattrocchi has denied media reports he was in touch with India’s Law Minister H.R. Bhardwaj who is at the center of a controversy following the Indian government’s communication to British authorities leading to de-freezing of his bank accounts in London.
Quattrocchi also maintained that Bhardwaj’s lawyer son had not advised him in his extradition case in Malaysia. “This is not correct, not at all,” he told an Indian television channel by telephone from Milan.
Asked about his proximity to the Gandhi family, he said: “Well, I am proud to be a friend of the Gandhi family. But please leave the friendship alone.”
Quoting a judge, Quattrocchi said that after two decades of investigations into the Bofors scandal, prosecutors could not link him to the scandal.
