Agusta Westland Case: Delhi HC seeks reply from ED on Shivani Saxena's bail plea

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought the Enforcement Directorate's (ED) response on the bail plea of accused Shivani Saxena in connection with the Agusta Westland case.

The ED has been asked to file the reply by December 1.

Earlier, Saxena's bail plea was rejected by the Special Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court.

The CBI on September 1 had filed a chargesheet against retired Air Chief Marshal S P Tyagi, former Air Marshal J S Gujral and 10 others in connection with the case.

The chargesheet, filed before a special court, also named S P Tyagi's cousin Sanjeev Tyagi, lawyer Gautam Khaitan, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, alleged middlemen Christian Michel, former Agusta Westland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and former Finmeccanica chairman Giuseppe Orsi.

On July 29, a Delhi court reserved its order on the bail plea of Saxena.

The ED had earlier arrested Saxena, Director of Matrix Holdings Dubai, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA) in the case.

Saxena is the wife of Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena, a resident of Palm Jumeira, Dubai.

She is an ''active'' director of UHY Saxena based in Dubai and Matrix Holdings, through which the proceeds of crime have been routed.

During the investigation and the documents that had been collected so far revealed that the Agusta Westland International Ltd., U.K. paid an amount of Euro 58 million as kickbacks through Gordian Services Sarl, Tunisia and IDS Sarl, Tunisia.

These companies further siphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to the Interstellar Technologies Ltd., Mauritius and others, which were further transferred to UHY Saxena, Dubai, Matrix Holdings Ltd. Dubai and others.