He accused the CBI of implicating him in the case "just to create sensation"."If I am given some guarantee then I can come to India (for interrogation)," he told PTI over telephone from Kuala Lumpur. He, however, did not explain the guarantee he wanted.In a statement issued from there, he said he was "extremely pained" that efforts were still on to malign his name and reputation for political gains during the current elections in India.

He said that a BJP spokesman who issued a statement on him recently forgot to mention "I never had any connection whatsoever with Bofors and never received any money from Bofors. Consequently my name was not mentioned as an accused in the FIR filed by the CBI."

About party'sin the BJP-led alliance demanding that Quattrochhi present himself for interrogation by CBI in India, he asked "why should you have different a yardstick? The Hindujas were interrogated in London and Win Chadha in Dubai. Why should Quattrochhi alone be asked to come to India?" Asked about BJP'S claim that Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal had "admitted" to Quattrochhi having received payments from Bofors, the Italian businessman said he did not think that Sibal had admitted to such a possibility.He said Sibal could have only argued what wrong Quattrochhi would have committed even if he had received the payments from Bofors.

"I was in construction business and had nothing to do with Bofors. I have never met anybody in Bofors", he said, asking the CBI to produce a single document to prove that he had taken money from Bofors.

In the statement, he said in its judgment the federal court in Lausanne had concluded "nothing allows to presume that the money would have been utilised to bribe Indian officials"."I havenever been charged any penal laws by any court so far despite the fact that the investigation in this matter commenced sometime in 1990. The CBI knows well I have had no connection whatsoever with Bofors or with any Indian, whether public, official or private citizen, involved in the Bofors deal," Quattrochhi said.

Quattrochhi said he had repeatedly offered his assistance to the CBI in connection with their investigations in this matter."While they have found fit to interrogate in London and Dubai other people involved in the Bofors case, Indians or of Indian origin, they have not found it convenient to interrogate me in Kuala Lumpur, my place of residence, or Italy, my place of birth. The fact is that I have been denied and I am still being denied equality before the law", he said.