AgustaWestland case: CBI court allows further interrogation of alleged middleman Christian Michel

CBI Special Court has allowed Enforcement Directorate (ED) to further interrogate Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in connection with the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, in Tihar jail.

Michel was extradited from Dubai last year and is currently lodged in Tihar Jail. 

The court has allowed the ED to visit Tihar jail on May 25, 2020, from 10.00 AM to 1:30 PM, and May 26, from 2.30 P.M. to 5.00 P.M., to interrogate him in presence of jail superintendent or his authorised official.  

Special Judge Pulastya Pramachala on Saturday gave the order, allowing the ED to interrogate Michel in the jail premises.

The court allowed the ED’s plea moved by the agency’s special public prosecutor N K Matta after he submitted during a hearing held through video conferencing that the accused was required to be confronted with certain documents during its ongoing probe in the case.

Michel, a British national extradited from Dubai in December, is one of the three middlemen being investigated for organising bribes to push the deal with decision-makers in India. The other two are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. In January, Michael was sent to judicial custody in the ED case. He is also lodged in Tihar jail due to a CBI case related to the scam.

The  AgustaWestland case pertains to alleged irregularities in the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from Italy-based Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland.

The deal was scrapped by the NDA government in 2014 over the alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks for securing the deal.