Monday, January 16 2006 19:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi today (Jan 16, 2006) maintained that there was no proof linking him to the Bofors gun deal payoffs but expressed his willingness to be questioned by the CBI in Italy.

Breaking his long silence on the Bofors case in which he is an accused, Quattrocchi faxed a statement from Milan in Italy reacting to the latest controversy concerning Indian Government's recent communication to the British authorities that there was no proof linking the funds in his two banks accounts in London with the gun deal. The accounts have since been de-frozen on the orders of the London High Court.

The controversial businessman said that since the CBI had no evidence linking his London bank accounts with Bofors after a probe lasting nearly three years, the British authorities were left with no option but to defreeze the accounts. The case against him should end now, he demanded.

Contacted over telephone, Quattrocchi, whose extradition has been sought by India for the last several years, said he was willing to be examined by CBI in Italy.

"The CBI questioned others named in the case such as the Hindujas and Win Chadha outside India. I am willing to be subjected to similar questioning," he said.