Christian Michel James, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland chopper deal, was brought to India late Tuesday night on December 4, 2018, following his extradition by the UAE.
Here are some brief facts that are essential to understand the VVIP chopper “scam”.
The Deal
- In 2010, UPA-I signed a deal with AgustaWestland (headquartered at UK) to purchase 12 three-engine AW-101 helicopters at a total price of Rs 3,546 crores.
How did the scam come to light?
- On February 12, 2013, the Italian authorities arrested the CEO of Finmeccanica (AgustaWestland’s parent company), Giuseppe Orsi for charges of corruption and providing bribes in order to secure the chopper deal.
GOI’s response?
- On the same day as Orsi’s arrest, i.e. February 12, 2013, India’s Defence Minister at the time, AK Antony, ordered a CBI investigation into the alleged corruption in the deal. The defence ministry issued a public statement on the matter, clarifying that a probe would be initiated by the CBI since both the UK and Italian government did not provide “specific inputs” in the matter. “Since no specific input has been received from the two governments, the Ministry of Defence has decided to refer the case to CBI for inquiry,” said a defence ministry spokesperson.
- One month after this, AK Antony, confirmed to the Indian public that there had been corruption in the deal. “Yes, corruption has taken place in the helicopter deal and bribes have been taken. The CBI is pursuing the case very vigorously.”
- In 2013, UPA-II also passed a motion for initiating a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe in the matter.
What did the CBI inquiry reveal?
- In March 2013, the CBI filed an FIR naming 13 persons including former Indian Air Force Chief, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi, his three brothers, Satish Bagrodia and Pratap Aggarwal (Chairman and Managing Director of IDS Infotech respectively). Bagrodia is the brother of former Union Minister Santosh Bagrodia.
- In September 2013, the CBI also named Indian arms dealer Abhishek Verma and his wife Anca Neacsu in the scam. Verma was said to have acted as a middleman.
UPA-II cancels deal and recovers the money
- In January 2014, UPA-II canceled the chopper deal for “on grounds of breach of the Pre-contract Integrity Pact and the agreement by AWIL (AgustaWestland International Ltd)”.
- The initial payment made by the govt to AgustaWestland was Rs 1,268 crore. In addition to cancelling the deal, the government encashed bank guarantees worth Rs 250 crore furnished by AgustaWestland in Indian banks. Further, the govt won the case in an Italian court which allowed it to encash Rs 1,818 crore in bank guarantees in Italian banks, thereby recovering a total of Rs 2,068 crore.
- On top of this, the government had already secured deliveries of 3 choppers, the price of which came up to around Rs 800 crore.
Who is Christian Michel?
- In 2014, Christian Michel’s name cropped up in relation to the scam when a note, written allegedly by Michel in 2008, was produced in an Italian court. The note was written to Peter Hulett, then India head of AgustaWestland, saying that Hullet should “target” those close to Sonia Gandhi, the UPA chairman and Congress president at the time. The note named a number of Gandhi’s close aides and Congress leaders that could be targeted in order to lobby for the deal. Michel was named by the CBI in order to investigate the amount of kickbacks received by him. In 2015, a CBI court issued a non-bailable warrant against Michel. The CBI said, “Based on this arrest warrant, Interpol India would be requested to issue a Red Corner Notice against Christian Michel James and execute said warrant.”
- Michel was arrested by Indian agencies in Dubai on July 20, 2018. Upon his arrest, his lawyer and his sister had revealed that Michel was being pressured by the Indian agencies to sign a document falsely naming Sonia Gandhi. Rosemary Patrizi Dos Anjos, Michel’s lawyer, told Indian media that the government agencies were offering to exonerate Michel if he agreed to implicate Sonia Gandhi. Michel’s sister, Sasha Ozeman, also said that the agencies were insisting that Michele admits that he knew Mrs Gandhi personally, even though he has maintained that he has never met her.
‘No corruption in the deal’
- Almost nine months after acquitting all AgustaWestland official, an Italian appeals court, in September 2018, reportedly said in it’s final judgement in the matter, “There is, conclusively, no evidence of the corrective agreement stipulated according to the imputation, with the foreign public official, just as it requires the incriminating law.” The court also concluded that according to the evidence, the allegation increasing the ceiling limit for flying the helicopter was in any way changed in exchange for bribes paid to the the then IAF chief was also not chronologically possible.
Also read: AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper Deal: No Evidence Of Corruption, Says Italian Court