AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel granted permission to call family abroad

New Delhi, Jan 14: A special CBI court on Monday granted permission to alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, Christian Michel, to make phone calls abroad to his family and lawyers.

Michel has reportedly been granted 15- minute time in a week to speak to his family and lawyers.

Michel, lodged in Tihar central jail here, moved an application through his advocate before special judge Arvind Kumar, who directed the jail authorities to file a response to the plea by Monday.

The accused told the court that jail authorities rejected his plea seeking the permission.

Michel, who was extradited from Dubai, was arrested by the ED on December 22.

The court had earlier imposed restrictions on Michel meeting his lawyers while he was in ED custody after the agency had said he was misusing legal access by passing chits to the advocates, asking them how to tackle questions on "Mrs Gandhi".

Later, he was sent to judicial custody in the case on January 5. He is also lodged in judicial custody in the CBI case related to the scam.

Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he had received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, has alleged an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.