Italian court order no evidence of graft in Agusta chopper deal full of error:CBI

The CBI Wednesday told a Delhi court that an Italian court order that there was no evidence of corruption in the case relating to AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal was "full of error" and will not hold in Indian courts.

The Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) made this submission in the court which sent Christian Michel, an alleged middleman in the graft-tainted chopper deal, to judicial custody till December 28 after the CBI said he was not required for further custodial interrogation that had lasted 14 days.

The court also reserved for December 22 its order on Michel's bail plea.

Michel was produced before Special Judge Arvind Kumar on expiry of his 4-day CBI custody--the third spell--and the probe agency said he was not required for further custodial interrogation.

In his bail application, the accused told the court through his advocate Aljo K Joseph that he was cooperating with the investigation throughout last several years and also during his 14-day CBI custody, which ended today.

He contended that the CBI was carrying out the proceedings against him with the same facts and the same accusations that the Italian Court had arrived at a finding of acquittal.

CBI counsel D P Singh opposed the bail plea, saying the accused was very influential and was capable of hampering the probe, and added there was not enough material from the Indian side before the Italian court.

"The foreign court order is full of error and will not hold in Indian courts. It considers all the conspiracy, offence, but does not reach any conclusion. It was also not based on documents supplied by Indian authorities," Singh said.

"Neither there was enough material from Indian side, nor help was sought from or given by the Indian authorities. They were prosecuted and convicted earlier but later got acquitted only on technicalities."
"Even after landing in India, during these days of CBI's custodial interrogation, the accused has fully cooperated and is still ready to cooperate while he is enlarged on bail."