AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel being extradited to India: Report

Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 36-billion AgustaWestland chopper deal, is being extradited to India from the UAE, official sources said Tuesday night.

They said he was scheduled to be brought back on Tuesday night from Dubai.

Michel, a British national, is wanted in India in connection with the AgustaWestland VVIP choppers scam.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received EUR 30 million (about Rs 2.25 billion) from AgustaWestland.

Michel is one of the three middlemen being probed in the case, besides Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Both the CBI and the ED had notified an Interpol red corner notice against him.

 

On January 1, 2014, India scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 4.23 billion by it for securing the deal.

The CBI has alleged that there was an estimated loss of Euro 398.21 million (approximately Rs 26.66 billion) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth Euro 556.262 million.