CBI: Italy bound to extradite Agusta fixer under UN pact

NEW DELHI: Two weeks after Italy refused to extradite European middleman Carlo Valentino Gerosa in Rs 3,700 crore UPA-era VVIP chopper scam, the CBI, in its reworked extradition request, has invoked the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to remind Italy that it is bound to extradite the offender as the UN convention supersedes its domestic laws.
Italy last month refused to extradite Gerosa on the grounds that “there is no extradition treaty between the two counties” and that Gerosa has “dual nationality” — Italian and Swiss.
CBI, top sources told TOI, has told Italian authorities in its latest request that “in the absence of an extradition treaty between India and Italy, UNCAC, of which both the countries are signatories, should be considered to extradite an offender against whom there are charges of corruption and money laundering”.
Article 44 of UNCAC 2003, which deals with international cooperation between two states and where dual criminality is established, says, “If a state party (Italy in this case) that makes extradition conditional on the existence of a treaty receives a request for extradition from another state party (India in the present case) with which it has no extradition treaty, it may consider this convention the legal basis for extradition in respect of any offence to which this article applies.”
Officials said that honouring the UN law, Italy should extradite Gerosa to India since he is an important link in the bribery scandal involving former IAF chief S P Tyagi and others.
The UN convention clearly states that the countries party to it are bound by the convention to render specific forms of mutual legal assistance in gathering and transferring evidence for use in court, to extradite offenders. “Countries are also required to undertake measures which will support the tracing, freezing, seizure and confiscation of the proceeds of corruption,” it adds.
CBI had first sent its extradition request to Italy in November 2017 in the week after Gerosa was arrested based on an Interpol red corner notice.
Indian government officials told TOI that “sufficient evidence” has been provided to Italian authorities establishing the role of Gerosa, who along with two others – Christian Michel and Guido Ralph Haschke – was involved in the whole conspiracy to bribe Indian politicos, senior ministry of defence and IAF officials and private persons including S P Tyagi and his family members to tilt the crucial contract of supply of 12 VIP choppers in favour of the Anglo-Italian firm, AgustaWestland.
CBI has so far established money trail of 62 million euros (around Rs 415 crore) out of suspected 67 million euros (Rs 452 crore) bribe money.