Friday, October 06, 2017

VVIP chopper scam: Italian court orders release of middleman Carlos Gerosa, says no extradition treaty with India

New Delhi: In a major setback for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probing the VVIP chopper deal, an Italian court has ordered the release of AgustaWestland scam middleman Carlos Gerosa while citing non-existence of an extradition treaty between India and Italy. Gerosa, an Italian national, was detained last week on his return from Switzerland based on a Red Corner Notice request from ED, which is probing a case of alleged money laundering in connection with the Rs 3,600-crore deal.
While the ED is likely to send an extradition request to Italy for Gerosa soon, the Italian court order, accessed by The Indian Express, stated, “That between Italy and India there exists no such extradition treaty. That this lack cannot be remedied by interpretation even if it were possible to identify a legal basis in other multilateral conventions relative to international corruption or money laundering possibly signed by Italy and by India, in the absence of the express provision on the extraditability of a citizen.”
The court also noted that besides the Italian citizenship, Gerosa, 70, who is one of the three alleged middlemen wanted in the case, also holds a Swiss passport. “Having therefore considered that while the provisional arrest was formally correct on the basis of formally regular judicial measures, coercive measures cannot be applied if there are reasons to believe that the conditions for a judgment in favor of the extradition does not exists…,” the appeals court of Messina observed while ordering Gerosa’s release.
06/10/17 Rahul Tripathi/Indian Express
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

0 comments:

Post a Comment