Christian Michel
gress party.
Michel, 57, arrived in India shortly before midnight on Tuesday after being deported from Dubai, bringing back into focus a ₹3,600-crore deal for 12 AgustaWestland helicopters that was eventually scrapped after allegations emerged that kickbacks had been paid to ensure the contract went to the Italy-based manufacturer Finmeccanica (now known as the Leonardo group).
“You must have read in today’s newspapers about VVIP helicopter scam of thousands of crore. You would be aware about a letter of madam Sonia Gandhi. When we came to power to find out the files, we kept searching for it and finally found a ‘razdar’ (one who knows all secrets) who served powerful people,” Modi said at an election rally in Rajasthan’s Sumerpur.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi, whose party was in power when the controversial deal was struck and cancelled, deflected the allegations. “I can’t answer. The Congress has made its position very clear. The Prime Minister should explain why he gave ~30,000 crore to Anil Ambani,” he told reporters when asked about Michel’s extradition.
Congress’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said Modi’s allegations were part of a “smear campaign”. “While the BJP and PM Modi are seeking fake credit without being subjected to investigation by the CBI for their own complicity and connivance, they are latching on to Christian Michel for committing a smear campaign against opposition leaders. The truth qua Christian Michel is already out in the open,” he said in a statement.
Michel, a citizen of United Kingdom, was brought to New Delhi on Tuesday night on a special flight and taken to the Central Bureau of Investigation headquarters. He was produced before special CBI judge Arvind Kumar on Wednesday afternoon.
The British high commission in New Delhi said it was “urgently seeking information from Indian authorities on Michel’s circumstances” and UK authorities were in contact with Michel’s family and the Emirati authorities regarding the case.
Michel’s advocate asked the court in Delhi to send him to judicial custody but the CBI sought 14 days’ custodial interrogation to confront him with evidence and follow the money trail in the scam.
Appearing for the CBI, its special public prosecutor (SPP) DP Singh said the investigation found that Michel had entered into as many as 12 contracts through two of his firms with Finmeccanica and AugustaWestland, Westland Helicopters, UK to “legitimise” the illicit commission he was paid.
The amount, EUR42.27 million, was paid by Westland Group Companies to Michel’s firms without any work, Singh told the court.
Michel’s custody, Singh said, was required to unearth the conspiracy and identify his accomplices including IAF officials, bureaucrats and politicians. “There were dispatches by Christian and he has also got information on classified material. There is a chain of money that needs to be unearthed.”
The judge allowed the agency to interrogate Michel for five days and asked the agency to provide all relevant documents including the charge sheet to the accused. The judge added that Michel would be allowed to meet his lawyers twice a day –between 10 am to 11 am and from 5 PM to 6 PM.
A bail plea was also moved on Michel’s behalf but the court did not give any specific date for hearing it.
Michel is one of three middlemen being investigated in the case, in addition to Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
According to the CBI charge sheet, several parameters were tweaked to help AgustaWestland bag a contract for 12 helicopters that were primarily meant to transport VVIPs. These parameters included the height of the cabin of the helicopter and the maximum altitude the helicopter could fly to.
These tweaks were made after bribes were paid, which came out in an Italian investigation. Three of the contracted 12 helicopters had been delivered to the Indian Air Force before the allegations became public.