New Delhi, 28 February (HS): Delhi High Court has reserved the decision on the bail plea filed by Christian Michel, accused in the AgustaWestland scam case, in the money laundering case. Justice Swarnakanta Sharma’s bench reserved the decision after hearing the arguments of both the parties.

ED has opposed the bail plea and said that there is a danger of Christian Michel fleeing and if he flees once, it will be very difficult to extradite him for investigation again. Michel’s lawyer said that his passport has expired. Under the money laundering law, there is a provision of maximum punishment of seven years and Michel has spent more than six years in jail. Supreme Court has granted bail in the CBI case.

This case is of a scam of Rs 3600 crore in the purchase of 12 helicopters from AgustaWestland. According to CBI, Michel received some amount of this scam in 2010 and some after 2010. In this scam of Rs 3600 crore, ED arrested Michel in January 2019. Michel was extradited from Dubai and brought to India in December 2018. On 23 October 2020, the court took cognizance of the supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI. On 19 September 2020, the CBI filed a supplementary charge sheet.

In the charge sheet, 13 people including Christian Michel, Rajiv Saxena, Agusta Westland International director G Saponaro and Sandeep Tyagi, a relative of former Air Force chief SP Tyagi, have been made accused. Former CAG and former Defense Secretary Shashikant Sharma have not been made accused in this charge sheet, because the CBI has not yet received any approval to prosecute him.

Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar