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Quattrocchi begins process to stop extradition

By P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE DEC. 26. A "notice of motion" is being filed before Malaysia's Court of Appeal in Kuala Lumpur to seek a final judicial remedy to ensure that Ottavio Quattrocchi, Italian businessman, in his country at present, but still wanted in New Delhi in connection with the Bofors case, is not extradited to India.

Mr. Quattrocchi left Kuala Lumpur on December 14 after the High Court had, on the previous day, turned down India's request that he be extradited.

Holding that there was no basis on which the Malaysian authorities could accede to India's plea, Justice Augustine Paul dismissed a "review" petition that the Malaysian Government itself had brought up against a lower court's refusal to sanction Mr. Quattrocchi's extradition. The Malaysian Government is still holding India's brief in the absence of a bilateral extradition treaty.

Mr. Quattrocchi's counsel, Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, is asking the Court of Appeal to revoke its own ex-parte order or "injunction", which was passed on December 16, that the Italian national "surrender" his passport pending a hearing on the appeal against the High Court's ruling against India. The related plea is that the Court of Appeal "strike out'' or quash the petition from the Malaysia-India camp against the High Court's order.

Although the process of filing the "notice'' or prayer on behalf of Mr. Quattrocchi was set in motion today, it appeared that the Malaysia-India camp did not receive the relevant intimation through the required legal channels until late at night.

Speaking over the phone from Kuala Lumpur, Mr. Shafee told The Hindu that the Court of Appeal was being approached on five counts. First, the Malaysian prosecutors, acting on behalf of India, did not disclose to the Court of Appeal a material fact that Mr. Quattrocchi had left Malaysia for

Italy before the apex judicial forum ordered that his passport be impounded, Mr. Shafee said.

The counsel's second plea was that the Court's ex-parte order on the passport issue would remain a matter of academic interest as Mr. Quattrocchi had gone outside Malaysia's jurisdiction by the time the "injunction'' was passed. The third reason cited by Mr. Shafee was that "no right of appeal'' was available to India and its ally, the Malaysian Government, against the High Court's refusal to endorse New Delhi's extradition plea.

Malaysia's Extradition Act was categorical as regards this aspect, according to him. There was "no merit'' in the substance of the appeal from the Malaysia-India camp, Mr. Shafee underlined, alluding to the fourth aspect of this latest petition. The last but not the least count was that the lodging of the appeal itself was an "abuse of the process of the court'' in view of the provisions of the relevant Act, he said.

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