AgustaWestland: UK seeks urgent information on Michel’s extradition
New Delhi, Dec 6: The UK government has said it has sought urgent information from India on the circumstances surrounding the detention and extradition of Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam case, who is facing allegations of bribery. The businessman, a British national, was arrested in the UAE and extradited to India on Tuesday night.
Michel, who was the alleged middleman in the graft-tainted AgustaWestland chopper deal during the UPA rule, was sent to five-day CBI custody by a special CBI court in New Delhi, a day after he was extradited from the UAE. "Our staff continue to support the family of a British man following his detention in the UAE," said a spokesperson for the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
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"We are in contact with his family and the Emirati authorities regarding his case, and are urgently seeking information from the Indian authorities on his circumstances," the spokesperson said. Michel is one of the three middlemen being probed in the case, besides Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI.
Michel has denied all charges and alleged that the CBI wants him to take the names of the Gandhi family, a claim which had been refuted by the central probe agency. CBI prosecutor D P Singh said in court that Michel was required for custodial interrogation to unearth the "deep rooted conspiracy" and the money trail in the case.
His
custody
was
required
to
identify
Michel's
accomplices
including
the
Indian
Air
Force
(IAF)
officials,
bureaucrats
and
politicians,
who
were
influenced
or
were
instrumental
in
changing
the
decisions,
which
made
Anglo-Italian
company
AgustaWestland
eligible
to
participate
in
the
bidding
process
and
to
ultimately
secure
the
deal,
Singh
argued.
India
has
since
scrapped
the
contract
with
Italy-based
Finmeccanica's
British
subsidiary
AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP helicopters to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks by it for securing the deal. The deal, initialled in 2010, was scrapped on January 1, 2014.
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In the court, the special judge was informed by the CBI that its investigation showed Michel had entered into 12 contracts through two of his firms - M/s Global Trade and Commerce Ltd, London and M/s Global Services FZE, Dubai, UAE, with M/s Finmeccanica, M/s AgustaWestland, M/s Westland Helicopters, UK and others. The British High Commission in New Delhi has also sought consular access to Michel.