NEW DELHI, Dec 22: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Saturday arrested Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case.
Michel was produced before Special Judge Arvind Kumar where the ED sought his 15-day custody.
The court allowed the ED to interrogate the British national inside the courtroom for 15 minutes after the agency sought his custodial interrogation. Michel was arrested thereafter.
The ED had sought his separate arrest in a money-laundering case saying there was a gap in the money trail being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and them.
“We are two different agencies. It’s impossible to have a joint investigation in the ambit of the law. We need to stand on our own feet,” the ED said.
The agency said that it needs to probe money laundering aspect of the chain of proceeds of crime and the properties brought with that money, all of which have to be identified and recovered.
“We are aware of an investigation of Euro 30 million. The CBI’s investigation is of more than EUR 37 million. We have to cover that gap,” the ED said.
It further alleged that two of the properties have been bought out of the proceeds of crime and hence it is purely in the scope of money laundering.
“The money has been used and came through a hawala channel. It has not come through official channel. That has to be probed and he needed to be confronted in that regard. The co-accused have to be confronted with.
“Both channels — one channel through which money came and the other through which it was used — have to be unearthed. Money trail has to be identified. The nexus of Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Gautam Khaitan (the other accused) also have to be unearthed,” the agency said.
It said that the agency was forced to seek “open-ended non-bailable warrant (NBW)”.
Open-ended NBW does not carry a time limit for execution unlike non-bailable warrant.
The ED alleged that Michel has not joined the investigation in Italy and it cannot be said that the points the agency wants to probe here has already been investigated.
Michel was arrested in the UAE and extradited to India on December 4. The next day, he was produced before the court, which allowed his five-day custodial interrogation by the CBI. It was extended by five more days, and later for another four days.
The court had reserved the order on Michel’s bail plea on December 19 and had sent him to judicial custody till December 28.
Michel’s counsel Aljo K Joseph opposed his 15-day custody saying there was already a prolonged detention by the CBI and his further custody by the ED will be “hampering his fundamental right”.
“The ED did not try to question him while he was in the probe agency’s custody. His custody by one agency could have been used by the ED as well,” Joseph said.
He further alleged that both the agencies have not done independent probe and are seeking Michel’s confession.
“We are filing all the documents related to his financial transaction. Indian authorities are again asking for custody for his confession. All the documents have been collected by the Italian government. They have not done any investigation by themselves,” the counsel said.
Michel has been lodged in a separate cell in Tihar prison on the court’s directions. The court also directed jail authorities to provide adequate security to him.
Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case by the ED and the CBI. The others are Haschke and Gerosa.
The CBI has alleged there was an estimated loss of Euro 398.21 million – about Rs 2,666 crore – to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth Euro 556.262 million.
The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received Euro 30 million – about Rs 225 crore – from AgustaWestland. (PTI)
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