Party spokesperson Arun Jaitley said here on Monday that while the Congress spokesperson Kapil Sibal categorically stated that Quattrochi was paid by Bofors, under a contract, Quattrochi had contradicted him by saying he never received Bofors money.

"If Quattrochi did not receive Bofors money then, why did he file an appeal against the freezing of the account into which, Bofors money was paid,? Jaitley asked.

He also asked Quattrochi why did he become a fugitive from the law by escaping from India within a week after his name was disclosed by Swiss authorities to CBI saying that he was an appellant and a recipient of the Bofors money.

Alleging that there was nothing new about the Congress-Quattrochi "collusion", Jaitley said Quattrochi was close to the Gandhi family, influenced commercial decisions and secured kickbacksadding that when the CBI officially told of his involvement in the Bofors pay-off, he chose to escape from India.

Giving sequence of events leading to Quattrochi's disappearance, Jaitley said on July 25, 1993, CBI was told that he was an appellant in Swiss courts. The next day, K Mahadevan, former CBI joint director, who had dealt with the case, wrote to CBI director S K Dutta, requesting that Quattrochi be prevented from leaving India.

On August 3, Jaitley said Mahadevan again made the request to the new CBI director Vijaya Rama Rao, but nothing was done and he slipped out of the country in the first week of August 1993. All this, Jaitley said happened, when Congress was in power.

Reacting to Quattrochi's statement from Kuala Lumpur seeking guarantee to return to India, Jaitley said "having exploited his connections in India to the hilt, he now wants a guarantee".