Chopper deal: Court to consider ED's charge sheet on Dec 15

ED is probing the case in which Rs 360 crore was allegedly paid as kickbacks

A Delhi court today fixed December 15 for considering the charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate against businessman Gautam Khaitan and others, including two Italian nationals, in connection with its money laundering probe in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal.

Special Judge V K Gupta said he needed some time to go through the entire documents filed by ED and fixed the matter for December 15.

According to ED's prosecutor, the agency has named Khaitan, his wife Ritu, Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix and two Italian men, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, as accused and they have been chargesheeted for the offences under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Khaitan was the first person to be arrested in September this year by ED in the chopper deal case in which CBI is also running a parallel probe.

ED had earlier alleged in the court that Khaitan was "actively involved" in the illegal transactions relating to proceeds of crime and he was one of the beneficiaries of the entire deal.

ED is probing the case in which 70 million euros (Rs 360 crore) were allegedly paid as kickbacks.

It had earlier submitted that Khaitan was on the board of Aeromatrix which was allegedly a front firm for the financial dealings.

ED had lodged a case in July this year against Khaitan, former IAF chief S P Tyagi and 19 others in the VVIP chopper deal case to probe the alleged kickbacks.

The agency had claimed that Khaitan had resigned as one of the directors in Aeromatrix after Italian Police started its probe in the chopper deal.