AgustaWestland scam: ED files status report into charge sheet leak

The Enforcement Directorate Thursday filed a status report before a Delhi court on the alleged media leak of the supplementary charge sheet filed in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case.

The report was filed in a sealed cover before Special Judge Arvind Kumar, which reportedly includes some call record details and video footage.

"The report contains information about who procured it, what was the source," ED's special public prosecutors D P Singh and N K Matta told the court which will hear the matter tomorrow.

The agency also opposed as "baseless" a plea by Christian Michel, alleged middleman arrested in the case, stating that he had not named anybody in connection with the deal during investigation by the ED.

The plea said that even though the court has not taken cognisance of the documents, in order to make the entire case a sensation again in the media, the agency had leaked the charge sheet.

ED's advocate Samvedna Verma sought dismissal of Michel's application, saying it was not maintainable.

On April 6, both the ED and Michel, a British national, sought an enquiry into the purported leakage of the charge sheet.

The ED had also urged the court to issue a notice to a news organisation asking it to explain as to how it accessed the documents, whereas Michel supported the demand of a probe while accusing the agency of politicising the matter.

The court has directed to keep the copy the charge sheet in a sealed cover until further orders.

Michel was arrested by the ED on December 22 last year after his extradition from Dubai.

He is among the three alleged middlemen being probed by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI in the case. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

The agency had earlier told the court that Michel received 24.25 million euros and 1,60,96,245 pounds from the AgustaWestland deal.

The ED told the court that it had identified Michel's properties purchased with the proceeds of the crime.

The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he had received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, has alleged an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.