Co-accused in AgustaWestland case Gautam Khaitan arrested on black money charges

New Delhi, Jan 26: Advocate Gautam Khaitan, who is one of the accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate under the Black Money Act. The agency says Khaitan has several illegal properties.

Gautam Khaitan's offices and properties in Delhi-NCR were raided by the Income Tax department last week. Sources say he is also being probed for whether he received kickbacks in other defence deals.

The ED in its earlier charge sheet in 2018 had accused 34 Indian and foreign individuals and companies, including lawyer Gautam Khaitan of laundering money to the tune of around 28 million Euro. The others named in the charge sheet were Italian middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, and Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, and ex-IAF chief SP Tyagi.

It also claimed that Khaitan also received proceeds of crime in personal bank accounts opened in his name and the accounts of his companies in India and abroad.