P Chidambaram attacks Enforcement Directorate and media over AgustaWestland case claims

Senior Congressman and former union minister P Chidambaram took a dig at the Centre over AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, saying that even "kangaroo courts hold trials".

Chidambaram, who was responding to the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) submission in court on Saturday that middleman Christian Michel uttered the names of 'Mrs Gandhi' and 'Son of an Italian Lady', when he was being questioned, also hit out at the ED and the media.

He took to Twitter on Sunday morning and sent out a series of three tweets on the matter. "If the government, ED and the media have their way, in this country cases will be tried on TV channels," read one of his tweets.

Making fun of the ED, he also said that the Criminal Procedure Code and the Evidence Act will not apply. "What ED says will be oral evidence, any piece of paper ED produces will be documentary evidence, and what the TV channel pronounces will be the judgement," read another tweet.

A political row broke out after the ED said that 54-year-old Michel, sent out a chit to his lawyer. He is one of the three alleged middlemen who lobbied for the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, amounting to Rs 3,600 crore, as per which the then UPA-led government was to acquire 12 such aircrafts.

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Saturday after the ED's admission that all evidence points towards Congress and that the party even fielded a party-worker as a lawyer to help Michel. He was referring to Alio Joseph, part of the Youth Congress's legal department, who was listed as Michel's lawyer. Joseph was later expelled from the party.

Chidambaram took a swipe at the BJP and further tweeted that kangaroo courts, too, hold trials in a courtroom. "Our new 'improved' system will surpass kangaroo courts and deliver justice on TV channels," read his tweet.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, too, trained his guns on the BJP and called it the 'benefactor, protector, abettor and supporter' of AgustaWestland, stating that it was the Modi cabinet that selected it as part of Make In India.

"The ED might collude with the Modi government today, but what will happen when it is voted out of power in 2019? We will investigate PM Modi and his government's collusion with AgustaWestland," Surjewala said, adding that the Centre is forcing Michel to make false allegations.

PROOF AGAINST CONG

Union minister Prakash Javadekar said on Saturday after the ED’s admission that all evidence points towards Congress and that the party even fielded a party worker as a lawyer to help Christian Michel. He was referring to Alio Joseph, part of the Youth Congress’s legal department, who was listed as Michel’s lawyer. Joseph was later expelled from the party