New Delhi, May 3
The BJP has termed the justification given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi issue as “absurd”.

Party spokesman Prakash Javadekar said the BJP completely deplored “the absurd logic” given by the Prime Minister in a television interview on Saturday that India would have been looked down by the world community if the red corner notice against Quattrocchi was not removed.

Speaking on the CBI’s move to remove the key accused in the Bofors kickback scam from the wanted list and the withdrawal of Interpol red corner notice against him, the Prime Minister said the Quattrocchi case had become an embarrassment for the government.

“It is not a good reflection on the Indian legal system that we harass people while the world says we have no case,” he said adding that it had been an “embarrassment” for the Indian government as it failed to get him extradited from Malaysia and Argentina where courts said “we don’t have a strong case” against him.

The Opposition has seen the statement confirming the government’s keenness to wind up the Bofors’ investigation. Attacking Singh for justifying the withdrawal of Quattrocchi’s name from the red corner list, Javadekar called it a futile attempt to defend the indefensible act of the CBI. “This also proves that withdrawal of red corner notice against Quattrocchi is not a CBI decision but a political decision of the UPA government,” he added.