Jaguar, Mirage, AgustaWestland: How the Michels ruled India’s arms market since 1978
New Delhi, Dec 7: The Michel's are not new to India. The Central Bureau of Investigation says that the Michels have earned nearly 2 million pounds from India between 1987 and 1996.
Michel's father, Wolfgang Max Richard Michel was an active player in the Indian arms marketing the 1970s and 1980s. He has worked on a number of deals in India, but remained a low key figure. His name and association with the arms market in India came out in the open after his son's name cropped up in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.
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Prior to AgustaWestland, Michel had worked on the Mirage deal. He had a deal with the French firm Dassault to sell Mirage fighters to the Indian Air Force. The agreement stated that he would be given a commission of 2.5 per cent.
While all this was a low key affair, the first time this came out in the open was when Michel moved a French court to claim the money. This was however contested by the French firms, who said that the contract had lapsed in 1998 and hence he was not liable to be paid. India went on to purchase 10 Mirage fighters in 2000.
The Economic Times while citing a French court judgment of September 11 2002 states that French companies Dassault International, Thomson-CSF and Snecma signed on September 24 1996 with the company of Panamanian law Keyser Inc contracts under which Keyser was attending Dassault and other companies in the promotion for the sale of Mirage 2000 to India. This contract was renewed twice by amendments on June 30 1997 and July 10 1998.
Michel lost the case, but came back for the AgustaWestland deal. He is accused of bribing officials and also procuring secret documents from the Defence Ministry when the selection process was on.
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96,
Entera
Corporation
is
said
to
have
earned
more
than
2
million
Pounds
from
India.
Michel
senior
too
is
alleged
to
have
hobnobbed
with
the
high
and
mighty
in
India
prior
to
the
signing
of
the
Jaguar
fighter
jets
deal.
Documents
that
were
declassified
by
the
UK
foreign
office.
Incidentally
the
Jaguar
deal
was
signed
in
October
1978.
At
that
time
defence
minister,
Jagjivan
Ram's
daughter
was
employed
at
the
Indian
High
Commission
in
London.
Michel senior had made claims that he had hosted the then defence minister Jagjivan Ram prior to the signing of the deal.
Michel
inherited
the
consultancy
business
from
his
father
Wolfgang
Max
Richard
Michel.
Wolfgang
Max
Richard
Michel
was
also
a
consultant
with
AgustaWestland.
Back
in
the
1980s,
he
was
a
consultant
for
the
Indian
territory
and
had
reportedly
acted
as
a
mediator
in
other
countries
as
well.
Michel senior promoted three companies-Entera Corporation, UCM International Trading Limited and Ferro-imports Limited. Between 1987 and 1996.