AgustaWestland scam: Top court seeks CBI’s reply on middleman’s bail plea

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the CBI to respond to a bail plea filed by Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland helicopter scam, in four weeks.

A Bench, led by Justice Vikram Nath, issued a notice to the probe agency on his petition challenging the Delhi High Court’s September 25 order, which refused him bail in the case. The trial court had also denied him bail.

Michel was extradited from Dubai and arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on December 22, 2018. He has been in judicial custody since January 5, 2019.

Earlier, the Supreme Court rejected Michel’s bail plea on February 7 last year. He had challenged the Delhi High Court order dated March 11, 2022, in which the court had refused him bail in both the CBI and ED cases.

The alleged Rs 3,600-crore scam relates to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland. The CBI has alleged that there was an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros to the exchequer in the February 2010 deal for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.

Michel is one of the three alleged middlemen, who are being probed by the ED and the CBI. In June 2016, the ED accused him of having received 30 million euros from AgustaWestland. Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa are alleged to be the other two middlemen.