Agusta-Westland case: Christian Michel refuses bail, cites 'security risks'

Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman in AgustaWestland case, on Friday offered to "finish his sentence" and leave India instead of walking out on bail owing to "security risks".

James was addressing special judge Sanjeev Aggarwal when he made the plea.

Following the reprieve in the CBI and ED cases against him, the special court imposed the necessary bail conditions for releasing him on bail.

While the Delhi High Court on March 4 granted him bail in the ED case and directed for saddling Michel with the necessary bail riders, the Supreme Court on February 18 granted the relief in the CBI case subject to the trial court's conditions.

On Friday, the judge asked James, "How are you now? God has been kind to you in the last two months. You have got bail in both cases."  James, however, said, "Delhi is just a larger prison. My family cannot come to me...My security is at risk. I would rather complete my sentence and leave the country."  The judge asked Michel how could he continue to be incarcerated when bail had been granted to him.

"I cannot accept the bail. It's unsafe. Every time I step out of Tihar (prison), something happens," Michel said.

On the aspect of furnishing a surety bond, he said, "How can a person who has been in jail for six years produce local sureties?"  After Michel stressed he did not want to be released on bail because of security reasons, the judge asked, "Can't you find a safehouse in Delhi?"  Michel then offered to "narrate in private the incident" he faced when he was admitted to AIIMS.

"The problem I have is with the police. I would rather talk to you in private," he said.

The judge then asked the media persons and the police personnel to wait outside for some time.

At around 4.30 pm, the court passed its order, laying down the conditions for bail.

The conditions include James marking his attendance physically before the investigating officers once every 15 days, providing his cellphone number, email and residential address to the probe agencies aside from not leaving the country without the court's permission and not tampering with the evidence or attempting to influence the witnesses.

"The accused shall not interact with respect to the present case with the media nor shall communicate regarding this case at any forum, during the trial of this case, the court's order said.

The court also directed James to furnish a personal bond and surety of Rs 10 lakh in both cases and surrender his passport.

James was extradited from Dubai in December 2018 and was arrested by the CBI and the ED later.

He is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case and the other two are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

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

The ED chargesheet filed against James in June 2016 alleged he received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.