AgustaWestland case: Christian Michel is the main accused and the alleged middleman
Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, will be extradited to India tonight, his lawyer has told NDTV. The extradition is happening after a court in Dubai denied his plea last month. He would arrive in Delhi on a private flight later this evening, his lawyer Rosemary Patrizi told NDTV.
The 54-year-old is wanted in the Rs. 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal, which involves the purchase of 12 luxury helicopters for use by the President, Prime Minister and other VIPs, by the UPA government led by Manmohan Singh.
Christian Michel is one of the three middlemen being investigated. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
In its chargesheet against Christian Michel filed in June 2016, the Enforcement Directorate said he received 30 million Euros from AgustaWestland. It was a bribe for executing the 12-helicopter deal in favour of the firm in "guise of" genuine transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country, the chargesheet said.
The Congress has claimed that the government was forcing Christian Michel to frame UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in the case.
In 2007, the UPA government had signed a contract to purchase the luxury helicopters. But six years later, the deal was scrapped after allegations that AgustaWestland, the firm supplying the choppers, had paid kickbacks in India to secure the deal. AgustaWestland's parent company Finmeccanica earlier ran into allegations of bribe-giving in Italy.
In 2016, former Air Chief SP Tyagi was arrested over allegations that he accepted bribes to tailor specifications at the instance of his cousins. He became the first ever military chief - former or current - to be arrested.
The Congress claimed once the corruption allegations were made, they ordered investigations, scrapped the deal and blacklisted the firm. But the NDA opened doors for them again, allowing them to participate in defence contracts and the "Make in India" initiative in 2015, the Congress alleged.