AgustaWestland scam: Ratul Puri moves court for cancellation of non-bailable warrant

Businessman Ratul Puri on Friday filed a plea in a Delhi court, seeking cancellation of a non-bailable warrant issued against him in a money laundering case connected to the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar is scheduled to hear the plea tomorrow.

In the petition moved through his counsel Vijay Aggarwal, Puri sought the cancellation of the warrant, contending that he wishes to join the probe.

The businessman submitted he sent an email on August 14 to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), expressing his willingness to join the investigation.

On August 9, the special court had issued the non-bailable warrant against Puri in connection with the case.

The ED had sought the warrant claiming that despite summons, Puri did not join the probe.

The Delhi High Court had on Wednesday granted interim protection from arrest till August 20 to Puri, who is a nephew of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath.

Puri's counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Aggrawal had argued that their client was not an accused in the main complaint.

"Puri is neither an accused in the main complaint nor named in the fifth supplementary. Puri was made to join the probe based on the statement of Rajiv Saxena, who is the approver in the case. However, the ED has itself filed an application seeking cancellation of Saxena's bail, saying he is unreliable. If Saxena is unreliable, then why his statement is being treated as reliable in this case," Singhvi had argued.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in the purchase of 12 VVIP choppers from Italy-based Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland.

The deal was scrapped by the NDA government in 2014 over the alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of payment of kickbacks for securing the deal.