Dubai court approves extradition of Briton implicated in Indian defence deal corruption
Christian Michel has been living in the UAE for the past five years, but his lawyer said his whereabouts was not known
A UAE court has approved the extradition of a British national to India, where he is accused of being a middleman in a multimillion-dollar defence procurement scandal.
Christian Michel, 54, did not appear in court in Dubai and his whereabouts are not known, his lawyer Amal Alsubei told India’s NDTV. The controversy, dating to 2013, involves kickbacks allegedly given to Indian government officials by AgustaWestland, an Italian helicopter company. The bribes were intended to win AgustaWestland a contract to supply 12 helicopters at a contracted price of nearly $500 million (Dh1.83 billion).
The contract was cancelled in 2014. Shortly afterwards, the Congress Party-led government, which signed the contract, was voted out of power.
In Italy, the chief executive of AgustaWestland’s parent company was convicted of bribing Indian politicians and bureaucrats. On appeal, he was acquitted because of a lack of proof. In India, the Central Bureau of Investigation has charged nine people – including a former air force chief – with corruption.
Mr Michel, whose extradition request was processed by the UAE, was one of three foreign middlemen named in the bureau’s charge sheet, which was filed last September. Mr Michel is accused of receiving about $35m as kickbacks as the middleman who brokered the corrupt deal.
To use a middleman in a defence deal is not illegal, said Gurmeet Kanwal, a retired army brigadier and the former director of the Centre for Land Warfare Studies, a New Delhi think tank. India’s procurement rules can be so byzantine that most foreign companies “feel like they need help”.
But a company must declare its middlemen, “which many companies don’t do”, Mr Kanwal said. In 2016, India lodged an extradition request with the UAE, where Mr Michel has been living for the past five years.
Interpol also issued a red notice against Mr Michel, flagging him as wanted for prosecution in India. In February last year, a report was filed against Mr Michel at the Dubai Ports police station, and he was referred to prosecution in relation to charges of money laundering and abusing his position.
On July 8 this year, Mr Michel’s case was referred to the Dubai Appeals Court.
He appeared before the court for the first time on July 29. Issa Sharif, Chief Justice of the Court of Appeal, approved the request for extradition from a Dubai prosecutor, on behalf of the Indian government, on September 2 – but the case only came to light this week. Mr Michel’s whereabouts is unknown at the moment, his lawyer told the news channel yesterday.
“He will be arrested if found,” Mr Michel’s lawyer said. “He is likely to appeal to the Supreme Court.”
Hassan Elhais, a consultant with Al Rowad advocates, said: “The treaty between the UAE and India allows authorities of both countries to extradite anyone wanted for prosecution in the other country if the suspect’s crimes did not happen in any part of the UAE and only after a copy of his crimes’ detailed file has been submitted to the court here.” Included in this provision are citizens of third countries, as in this case, where Mr Michel is a national of neither India nor the UAE.
But there are exceptions, Mr Elhais said. One is if the accused is a citizen of the country to which an extradition request was submitted, and another is if the person’s crimes involved politics.
“The suspect is entitled to file a petition against the appeals decision before the Cassation Court within 30 days from the date of the court of appeals ruling, because unlike other types of cases, extradition goes through only two stages, the appeal and cassation courts,” Mr Elhais said.
If Mr Michel is extradited, it will represent a small win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Mr Modi has come under fire for failing to bring several rich, absconding Indians home to face trial.
This list includes the liquor baron Vijay Mallya, who fled to London in 2016 after defaulting on billions of rupees’ worth of loans. A British court will deliver a verdict on India’s request to extradite Mr Mallya on December 10.