Chopper deal case: Enforcement Directorate opposes Gautam Khaitan's bail plea

NEW DELHI: Enforcement Directorate (ED) today opposed in a Delhi court the bail plea of businessman Gautam Khaitan, who was arrested in a money laundering case relating to the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal, alleging he was involved in the transfer of "tainted money".
ED's prosecutors Naveen Kumar Matta and Vikas Garg claimed before Special Judge V K Gupta 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.

In its response to Khaitan's bail plea, ED alleged that he was "involved in the activities connected with the proceeds of crime and it was very much in his knowledge that the money, transferred from M/s IDS Tunisia to Interstellar Technologies Ltd, Mauritius, and further transferred to various other companies/account of Carlos Gerosa and Guido Haschke, was tainted money".

During the hearing on bail plea, ED alleged that they were probing the case in which 70 million Euros were paid as "kickbacks" and the agency was investigating the money trail and also the proceeds of crime.

Seeking bail, senior advocate P V Kapur and advocate P K Dubey, who appeared for Khaitan, argued that their client was a "soft target" and influential persons, who are also accused in the case, were not yet arrested by ED.

"The so-called bribe takers are in India and they have not been touched yet...My client is a lawyer and he is a soft target. They (ED) are completely silent as to why any other accused has not been arrested yet," Kapur said, adding, "the persons who are more influential are free even now".

He also argued that Khaitan was not involved in any money transaction and there was no possibility of his absconding or fleeing from justice if released on bail.

The court, after hearing the arguments from both the sides, reserved its order on the bail application for October 13 and extended till October 21 the judicial custody of Khaitan, the first person to be arrested in connection with the case.

During the arguments, ED told the court that the probe into the case has wider international ramifications and money trail has to be established.

"We have to probe as to where the proceeds of crime has gone. We cannot have eye-witnesses in such cases so we will have to dig out evidence," Matta said adding various documents have been received by ED from the Ministry of Defence.

The counsel, appearing for Khaitan, argued his client had no role whatsoever in the entire case and he has been made a victim by the probe agency.

ED had earlier alleged in the court that Rs 360 crore was paid as kickbacks in the entire deal.

ED had earlier submitted that Khaitan was on the board of Chandigarh-based company Aeromatrix which was allegedly a front firm for the financial dealings in the chopper deal.

Khaitan's counsel, however, had argued his client was nowhere connected with the day-to-day affairs of the firm and he had resigned from the post in October 2010.

Khaitan was arrested by ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 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 alleged kickbacks.

ED had earlier said Khaitan was one of the directors in Aeromatrix and he had resigned from the post after the Italian police started its probe into the chopper deal.

It had said a reference to Khaitan was also reportedly made in Italian prosecutor's report filed in a court there.

He was earlier questioned by CBI in this case. ED had registered a case in this deal under PMLA, taking cognisance of a more-than-a-year-old CBI FIR.

ED has booked former IAF Chief S P Tyagi, his family members, European nationals Carlo Gerosa, Christian Michel and Guido Haschke, four firms Italy based Finmeccanica, UK-based AgustaWestland and Chandigarh-based IDS Infotech and Aeromatrix, two companies based in Mauritius and Tunisia, a few other firms and unnamed persons in its criminal complaint.

The supply of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland came under the scanner after the Italian authorities alleged that bribe was paid by the company to clinch the deal.

The Italian prosecutor, who carried out the preliminary inquiry, alleged that the CEO of Finmeccanica, the parent company of UK-based AgustaWestland, had used the services of middlemen to bribe Indian officials.