Action on Quattrocchi issue taken by CBI: PM

Manmohan said action relating to both freezing and unfreezing of Quattrocchi's accounts were taken by the CBI.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Monday that the action of defreezing of Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi's bank accounts was taken by the CBI in consultation with law officers and the Government had nothing to do with it.

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The Prime Minister gave the statement after the Opposition had accused the Government of interfering in the matter.

Breaking his silence over the statement made to the British authorities that there was no link between Quattrocchi's bank accounts and the Bofor's pay offs, Singh said that the "action relating to both freezing and unfreezing of these accounts have been taken at the level of the CBI in consultation with law officers as per established procedures."

"Neither the freezing was done under the government order nor has the defreezing been done under the government's order," he asserted.

Seeking to distance the government from the controversy after the statement was made by Law Minister HR Bhardwaj, he said that these matters were exclusively under the functional jurisdiction of CBI. The UPA government has never interfered with the CBI's functioning.

"All steps in this matter are in accordance with the established standard procedure. The autonomy of CBI will be preserved under this government at all costs," Singh said.