Under Doval ‘guidance’, AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel extradited to India

Hours after External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj discussed the extradition of Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal, with her counterpart in the United Arab Emirates, Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Michel was extradited to India Tuesday night, the CBI said. The 57-year-old British national is expected to be produced in court tomorrow. “A team lead by A. Sai Manohar, Joint Director in CBI has been to Dubai for the purpose”, the CBI said. “Under the guidance of Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor (NSA), the entire operation is being coordinated by in-charge Director CBI M Nageswara Rao,” the agency spokesperson said. Incidentally, the Supreme Court is going to hear the matter regarding CBI director Alok Verma on Wednesday. Michel was among the alleged middlemen who had brokered the deal and who, investigators claim, paid bribes to officials and politicians to swing the contract in favour of AgustaWestland, the British arm of Italian firm Finmeccanica. “An amount of Euro 42.27million was paid by the Finmeccanica Group to the firms of Christian Michel James as kickbacks or bribe without undertaking any work against the receipt of such amount… (He) will be examined with respect to his involvement in the case and confronted with documents recovered during raids by Swiss Authorities and received by CBI…indicating the bribes paid by him to the Indian Authorities for securing the contract for supply of VVIP Helicopters from M/s AgustaWestland,” the CBI said. In 1999, the Indian Air Force floated a proposal for acquisition of 12 VVIP helicopters to ferry top government functionaries. In 2010, the deal was granted to AgustaWestland for over Rs 3,600 crore. This was, however, followed by allegations that technical specifications had been tweaked — including lowering of the service ceiling of the helicopter from 6,000 m to 4,500 m — to help AgustaWestland win the bid for which bribes were allegedly paid. The CBI filed an FIR on March 14, 2013, after a preliminary inquiry. The FIR named former IAF chief S P Tyagi and 12 other individuals as accused, apart from four companies. These individuals included members of the Tyagi family and three middlemen: Michel, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke. The Enforcement Directorate too began investigations under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. Investigators alleged that while Gerosa and Haschke paid off members of the Tyagi family, Michel was dealing with Ministry of Defence bureaucrats and politicians. That’s why Indian agencies were chasing Michel. In the run-up to elections, his arrival is expected to create a political storm, since Italian probe authorities claim to have discovered a handwritten note that mentioned payments against code words such as “pol”, “Bur” and “Family”. Michel, however, has claimed the note was fake and prepared by Haschke. Michel’s extradition comes six years after his alleged involvement in the purchase of VVIP helicopters first surfaced in 2012. Initially, “the investigation conducted by Italian Authorities indicted him for offences of international bribery or corruption. CBI took up the investigation and wanted him for investigation. However, he escaped from India and has been deliberately evading his presence from the investigating agency and also the due process of law in India. Source: The Indian Express