AgustaWestland chopper deal: ED sends another request to extradite middleman Christian Michel

On the agency’s last extradition request, UK had raised various queries which included questions on his location, charges against him and findings of the probe. After receiving these questions in May this year, the ED further probed the case and filed a prosecution complaint in a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court last month.

The filing of the chargesheet was to strengthen India’s case in demanding extradition of Michel from both UK and UAE.

“We have now sent replies to the queries raised by UK. Details of the case and chargesheet relevant to the queries have also been sent via MEA,” the official said.

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According to the CBI and the ED, Michel is among the key accused in the Rs 3,600-crore chopper deal case. The probe by the two agencies has pointed out that Michel’s companies received around Euro 42 million to facilitate the deal, of which a large part was allegedly distributed as bribes.

The ED believes that the legitimate part of the offset money earmarked for another alleged middleman, Guido Haschke, by AgustaWestland went to IDS India, which was not part of the middlemen maze. The bribe was allegedly sent to IDS Tunisia, which sent it to IDS Mauritius. It was IDS Mauritius that allegedly paid bribes to cousins of former Air Force chief SP Tyagi. The ED is now hoping it would get a chance to interrogate Michel to pinpoint who he paid bribes to.

In its 74-page chargesheet, the ED has said Michel allegedly received Euro 30 million as kickbacks and sent cash packets to various people through his driver and regularly met Indian individuals, including cousins of Tyagi, while brokering the deal.

According to the ED, Michel also bought and sold several properties in Delhi which included a farmhouse in Chhatarpur and a showroom in Vasant Kunj.

Besides Michel, his company Media Exim Pvt Ltd and its two directors, R K Nanda and J B Subramaniyam, are named in the chargesheet filed in the case.

According to the chargesheet, Michel, through his driver Narayan Bahadur, got packets of cash delivered to Vimal Nagpal, Sama and Subi.

While Nagpal was an employee of Westland Support Services Ltd (a subsidiary of AgustaWestland), details of Sama and Subi are still being ascertained. The chargesheet states that Nagpal was paid Rs 15 lakh in cash in 2011 as a loan which was never repaid, then another Rs 10 lakh in 2012 to be given to one Anil Arora.