CBI to investigate if Michel played role in other defence deals

NEWDELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) will probe whether Christian Michel, the suspected middleman who is believed by the agency to have to have handled slush funds in the 2010 purchase of 12 Augustawestland helicopters by the Indian Air Force (IAF), was involved in any other defence deal. Michel, a British citizen, was extradited to India from Dubai on Tuesday.

Investigations by the CBI suggest that Augustawestland had entered into a contract with M/s Global Services FZE, a company run by Michel, for providing “services” for anti- submarine warfare Sea King helicopters of the Indian Navy, a CBI official said. The CBI says Global Services didn’t perform any work. Importantly, India wasn’t told that Global Services had been engaged, in violation of the integrity pact they had signed before entering into the contract.

The CBI had earlier said that “Mr Christian Michel was a frequent visitor to India and operating as a middleman for defence procurements through a wide network of sources cultivated in the IAF and MOD at different levels including retired and serving IAF officials.” Michel visited India as many as 25 times when the contract for the purchase of the helicopters was being negotiated. The CBI alleges that Michel was paid ~295 crore to swing the ~3,600 crore deal for Agustawestland. Other suspected middlemen Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa were paid separately Euro 28 million by Agustawestland. Haschke and Gerosa are still at large. Michel is being confronted with documents collected by the CBI and statements made by suspects, CBI officials said.