India denied bribery extradition

Ottavio Quattrocchi had links with former Indian PM Rajiv Ghandi

An Argentine court has rejected a request by India to extradite a businessman sought in connection with the Bofors bribery case in the 1980s.

The judge said he would explain his reasons later for refusing to hand over Italian suspect Ottavio Quattrochi.

He was detained by Argentina in February on an international arrest warrant, but has denied wrongdoing.

Indian officials believe he benefited as a middleman in an arms purchase by India from Swedish arms maker Bofors.

The authorities say he took $7m (£3.5m) in bribes in the deal.

Judge Mario Doi, in Argentina's north-eastern province of Missiones, rejected the demand by India, following a two-day hearing.

India has said it will appeal against the decision.

Sensitive

Mr Quattrocchi, 68, was detained in Argentina on 6 February. He was later released on bail but barred from leaving the country.

The businessman says he is the victim of a political vendetta in India.

The issue is politically sensitive there, as Mr Quattrocchi was known to be a friend of Sonia Gandhi - the Italian-born chief of India's governing Congress Party.

Swedish firm AB Bofors was alleged to have paid $1.3bn in bribes over the sale of 400 Howitzers to India in 1986.

For much of the last decade, Delhi has been trying to get Mr Quattrocchi extradited to India.

The Bofors case led to the election defeat of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, two years before he was assassinated.

In 2004, Mr Gandhi was posthumously cleared of any wrongdoing in the deal, which was signed when he was in office.

In May 2005, three of the billionaire Hinduja brothers were acquitted in the case.