The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday arrested British National Christian Michel, the alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper Scam.
Christian Michel was produced before the Special Judge Arvind Kumar where the ED sought his custody for 15 days. The Foreign National Michel was arrested in UAE and extradited to India on December 04.
The Special Court allows ED to interrogate with the British National Christian Michel for 15 minutes after which the agency sought custody. He was arrested after that.
Michel is among three foreign nationals that have been Charge-sheeted by the Investigation Agency. Others Include – Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
On January 1, 2014, Indian Government canceled the contract with AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force over the alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 423 crore by it for securing the deal.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in this findings has alleged there was an estimated loss of 398.21 million euro (approximately Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010, for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euro.
While the Enforcement Directorate in his Charge Sheet dated June 2016 has alleged he received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.
On Friday, Special Court Directed the CBI to cancel Look Out Circular against Former IAF Chief SP Tyagi. The CBI on September 1, 2017, had filed a charge sheet in the case in which SP Tyagi and British national Christian Michel were named among the accused. Nine others were also named in the charge sheet in connection with a bribery case in the VVIP chopper deal.