Chopper scam: Court grants time to ED, CBI to reply to Christian Michel's bail pleas

A Delhi court on Monday allowed the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI to file by August 28 their replies to the bail applications of Christian Michel, the alleged middleman arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper scam.

Special Judge Arvind Kumar passed the order after both the agencies said they were in the process of getting the translated version of Italian court orders related to the scam.

Michel has cited the orders from an Italian court as one of the grounds in his applications seeking bail in both the cases filed by the ED and the CBI.

In his plea, Michel said the investigation regarding him was over and no useful purpose would be served by keeping him in further custody.

He said he would be available to join the probe as and when required.

Michel, a British national, was taken into custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on December 5 last year after his extradition from Dubai, while the Enforcement Directorate (ED) took him into custody on December 22 last year. He is currently in judicial custody in both the cases.

Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the Rs 3,600-crore chopper scam by the two central agencies. Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa are the other two.

The agencies had told the court that Michel made 24.25 million euros and 1,60,96,245 pounds from the now scrapped AgustaWestland deal.

The CBI has alleged that the deal signed in February 2010 to supply VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros caused an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the state exchequer.