CBI says Michel key to Agusta probe
Wolfgang Michel (Christian’s father) was often used to gather information about arms deal negotiated by India’s enemies as he, too, was involved in the arms business...michel told a few friends that his son will ruin whatever he had earned in his life Former intelligence officer
NEW DELHI: When British national Christian Michel first figured on the radar of the Indian investigation agencies in connection with the Agustawestland chopper deal in 2013, at least Indian intelligence operatives were not surprised.
Christian Michel’s father, Wolfgang Michel, was “well known” to Indian intelligence operatives, especially from the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW), the country’s external intelligence agency.
Old-timers in R&AW recall how Wolfgang Michel was “handled” at the level of R&AW chief. The elder Michel developed deep ties with Indian political actors in the 80s and 90s.
“Wolfgang Michel was often used to gather information about arms deal negotiated by India’s enemies as he, too, was involved in the arms business. Christian Michel inherited most of his business contacts. But later the relations between the father and son soured and the elder Michel told few friends that his son will ruin whatever he had earned in his life,” a former intelligence officer said.
Indian investigators have alleged that three middlemen – Christian Michel and two Italians, Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa – played a key role in the swinging the deal in favour of Agustawestland.
“Haschke and Gerosa handled the bureaucrats and Michel was a conduit for bribing political contacts. We believe that he was paid around 42 million Euros by Agusta to get the deal,” said a senior investigator.
Italian investigators, who, too, probed the case suspected that Christian Michel’s firm, Global Trade and Commerce, was paid around 18 million Euros by Agustawestland to buy back 10 Pawan Hans helicopters that the UK had sold to India as part of an aid programme in the 1980s.
Nine of these choppers were sent back to the UK in 2000.
The central agency believes that Michel’s extradition is key to unravelling the mystery behind bribe to political personalities.
“The agency is preparing its supplementary charge sheet in the Agusta case, which will focus on the political bribes in the case,” said another investigator. The bribe money was routed in the garb of service contracts.