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AgustaWestland case: Delhi court dismisses Christian Michel’s bail plea
Christian Michel was arrested in the UAE and extradited to India on December 4. He is currently in judicial custody.
A Delhi court on Saturday dismissed the bail plea of Christian James Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland deal.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar of Patiala House Court dismissed his bail plea in two cases against him filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
Last week, the court had sought the response of the CBI and the ED on Michel’s bail plea. Michel was arrested in the UAE and extradited to India on December 4. He is currently in judicial custody.
The ED, which is probing this case along with the CBI, had filed a charge sheet against Michel in 2016 and had alleged that he received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland which was nothing but “kickbacks” to execute the 12-helicopter deal in favour of the firm in “guise of” of genuine transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country.
Under the now-scrapped deal with AugustaWestland, a subsidiary of Italian defence group Leonardo, formerly Finmeccanica, India agreed to buy 12 helicopters for ferrying VVIPs. The chopper deal was inked in February 2010 and scrapped four years later over allegations that bribes had exchanged hands.
The CBI has alleged there was an estimated loss of about Rs 2,666 crore to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.
On Thursday, the court granted seven-day interim bail to Rajiv Saxena, another accused in the AgustaWestland chopper scam.
The Patiala House Court gave Saxena interim bail in lieu of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of the same amount. It directed him against leaving Delhi without permission. The court also ordered him not to tamper with the evident or try to contact any of the witnesses.
Saxena was sent to India from the UAE in January to face trial over alleged bribery of government officials involved in an abortive deal to buy 12 helicopter from the Anglo-Italian firm, AgustaWestland. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has named Saxena as the “key money launderer” in the scam.
