E-Paper
ED, CBI oppose Christian Michel’s bail plea in SC, say he is a flight risk
Christian Michel’s bail request to the Supreme Court was filed on May 18, two months after the Delhi high court declined his request to release him on bail
Christian Michel James, the alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, is a flight risk and a key link to unearthing the modus operandi behind the payment of kickbacks in the ₹3,700 crore deal, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) told the Supreme Court in separate affidavits opposing his request for bail.
The two affidavits were filed ahead of Tuesday’s scheduled hearing by a bench headed by justice Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud on Michel’s bail petition. The case was deferred as the bench did not assemble on Tuesday.
At its last hearing on May 18, the court issued notices to the two federal investigating agencies on Michel’s plea for bail that cited Section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) which allows undertrials to be released on bail if they have undergone half the sentence of the maximum punishment that they can be sentenced to if convicted. Michel’s plea for bail was rejected by the Delhi high court in March this year.
Michel’s lawyers, Aljo K Joseph and Sriram Parakkat, have argued that the 60-year-old British national is charged with offences of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act, which prior to its amendment in 2014, carried a maximum sentence of five years. Michel was extradited from Dubai on December 4, 2018, and has remained in custody for more than three years.
The affidavit filed by ED opposed the request, arguing that the present matter was not a “fit and proper” case to extend the benefit under Section 436A CrPC.
ED said Michel committed a grave economic offence of huge magnitude “The petitioner, not being a citizen of India, is a flight risk and his extradition has been obtained with extreme difficulty. It is apprehended that if the petitioner is enlarged on bail, he might flee to avoid the investigation which shall be prejudicial against the course of the proceedings.”
In a separate affidavit filed last month, CBI argued on similar lines, describing Michel as a “key link to unearth the modus operandi” as there is ample evidence to link him with the commission of the grave economic offence.
“There exists all likelihood of petitioner hampering the investigation of the case if enlarged on bail,” CBI said. “He (Michel) has a deep nexus and influence which has not fully been unearthed yet and has inroads in the bureaucracy /executive.” Even the letters rogatory (LR) against him are pending in the United Kingdom which will be stalled if petitioner is released on bail”.
CBI has so far named former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and four Indian Air Force (IAF) officers for allegedly favouring the firm in the controversial deal signed in 2010 to buy 12 AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters to ferry the Prime Minister, the President and other VVIPs.
CBI started probing the deal after Italian officials arrested Giuseppe Orsi, the CEO of AgustaWestland’s parent company in 2013, claiming irregularities in the deal. India scrapped the deal the following year.
In its affidavit, ED said the offences involve “a complex web of transactions across jurisdictions and the investigation with respect to the same is ongoing and the presence of the petitioner is crucial at all stages”.
