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Questioning yielded good results: ED tells court on Christian Michel probe
A Delhi Court sent Christian Michel to be sent to judicial custody till February 26.
Christian Michel, accused of being the middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, played a role in other defence deals also, the Enforcement Directorate told a Delhi Court on Saturday.
Michel, a British national, was extradited to India from Dubai in connection with allegations of bribery in the ₹3,600 crore deal with AgustaWestland to purchase 12 helicopters to ferry around VVIPs. He was initially arrested by the CBI and questioned for nearly a fortnight in December.
After spending a few days in jail, Michel was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate - the central agency mandated to investigate financial crimes and money laundering - questioned him for 14 days.
He was produced before the court on Saturday which sent him in judicial custody till February 26.
But before the judge delivered his order, ED counsel DP Singh claimed that Michel’s interrogation “has yielded good results” and they had learnt of his role in other defence deals too.
“The money seems to be flowing in... The involvement of hawala operators is writ large (on the case),” Singh told the judge.
The ED lawyer did not elaborate.
When Christian Michel’s lawyer asked the judge to release him on bail because he had already been cleared of corruption charges in this case by an Italian court, DP Singh vehemently opposed bail. He claimed that the Italian court’s ruling was based on “false documents” submitted by Christian Michel.
In 2010, India signed the agreement to buy AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters. In 2013, Italian officials arrested Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of AgustaWestland’s parent company, claiming irregularities in the deal.
Soon after, a probe was ordered and the very next year, India scrapped the deal. There were allegations that kickbacks for the deal were as much as ₹423 crore of which Michel is alleged to have received ₹225 crore from the firm.
