The Delhi high court granted bail to alleged middleman Christian Michel James in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money laundering case on Tuesday. Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, while granting the reprieve to James, said it was an "exceptional situation" where the accused was in custody for over 6.2 years but the trial had not yet commenced due to incomplete investigation. James, who was extradited from Dubai in December 2018, can now walk out of prison subject to compliance with the conditions.
Embattled Anglo-Italian helicopter maker AgustaWestland may face a probe in the UK over its 480 million pounds scandal-hit deal with India for the supply of 12 VVIP choppers.
Carlo Valentino Ferdinando Gerosa, 71, an Italian and Swiss national, was believed to be a key player in the bribery scandal as the process of manipulating the specifications for VVIP helicopter deal allegedly started after a meeting between him and cousins of former Indian Air Force chief S P Tyagi, they said.
The payments to AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 choppers have been stopped but so far no decision has been take to blacklist the firm, Rajya Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
Saini was accused of demanding bribes from Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman, to favour the company during field evaluation trials held in 2010, officials said.
Facing the prospect of cancellation of its Rs 3,600 crore deal to supply 12 VVIP choppers to the IAF, AgustaWestland has sought a meeting with the defence ministry to explain its stand on the issue.
In a new twist to the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scandal, it has now come to light that the helicopter design and manufacturing company never returned the full down payment made by the Indian authorities for procuring the 12 choppers.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday recorded the statement of former Intelligence Bureau Director and Andhra Pradesh Governor E S L Narasimhan as witness in connection with allegations of bribery in purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from Ango-Italian firm AgustaWestland.
The Central Bureau of Investigation will soon record the statement of former Director, Intelligence Bureau and Governor of Andhra Pradesh E S L Narasimhan as witness in connection with allegations of bribery in purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from Ango-Italian firm AgustaWestland.
Faced with the prospect of the nixing of its Rs 3,600 crore deal for the supply of 12 VVIP choppers, AgustaWestland today denied it had violated any contractual obligations in the pact for the same with IAF.
A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail to former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma in a case related to the AgustaWestland chopper scam.
Rejecting allegations of "non-cooperation", the Central Bureau of Investigation has said that all documents related to AgustaWestland helicopter bribery scandal have been provided to prosecutors in Italy who are contesting the case there.
Parrikar also took a dig at Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying translation from Italian was not easy 'at least for the ruling side. May not be a difficult task for the Opposition'.
The ED, in its chargesheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received 30 million (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.
AgustaWestland, which is surrounded by controversies over the VVIP chopper deal, is appointing Jackie Callicut -- a former British government employee -- as its India head. Callicut has earlier served in India in her capacity as a British government employee. She has also dealt with defence ministry operations in her country, officials said on Monday.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday denied bail to Christian Michel James, an alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland chopper scam cases, who is being probed by both the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.
Italian firm Agusta Westland on Monday withdrew its lawsuit from the Delhi High Court filed against India's decision to encash over Rs 250 crore in bank guarantee following the scrapping of the Rs 3600-crore VVIP helicopter deal over bribery allegations.
Nitin Gokhale, national security expert and founder BharatShakti.in, tells us what the controversy is all about.
The Enforcement Directorate on Friday slapped a money laundering case against former Indian Air Force chief SP Tyagi and 20 others in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal to probe alleged kickbacks of Rs.360 crore.
Christian Michel's investigation in New Delhi has revealed nothing substantial, contrary to the expectations of the prime minister and the media hype. A fascinating excerpt from Raju Santhanam's The Untold Story of Christian Michel and Agustawestland.
Moving ahead towards scrapping the Rs 3,600 crore controversial chopper deal, Defence Minister AK Antony on Wednesday said AgustaWestland has "violated the contract" for supplying 12 VVIP choppers for the air force.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a supplementary charge sheet in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland scam against former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma and four Indian Air Force personnel, officials said Wednesday.
The CBI has been carrying out searches at various locations for the past few days to locate assets acquired from the proceeds of the scam, officials said.
They said Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena wanted in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers money laundering case and lobbyist Deepak Talwar wanted by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation in a case of misusing over Rs 90 crore taken through the foreign funding route, were brought in a special plane to Delhi around 1:30 am.
The Anglo-Italian firm said that the defence ministry had no right to unilaterally suspend the contract for the 12 VVIP choppers. The firm added that it has since April been requesting the ministry to hold discussions on the issue, but there has been no response from the government
The court put various conditions on Khaitan, including that he will not tamper with the evidence or try to contact or influence the witnesses and join the investigation as and when called.
Staring at the prospect of being blacklisted in the wake of the chopper scam, Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland has approached the Finance Ministry for release of nearly Rs 2,400 crore which has been put on hold by the defence ministry pending inquiry into the case.
A special court on Saturday granted bail to four former Indian Air Force (IAF) officers in the AgustaWestland chopper deal corruption case after they appeared before it following summons issued on the last date of hearing.
The deal was "put on hold" only in 2013 after corruption was "proved", he said adding the Congress chief should answer who was behind the delay.
Swamy had been instructed by the deputy speaker of the Rajya Sabha that if he failed to do so, his remarks during the Agusta debate would be struck off.
"I am always being targeted, happy to be targeted," he told reporters while entering Parliament House.
The AgustaWestland issue was fiercely debated in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday with members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress blaming each other.
The Supreme Court dismissed a plea from a lawyer facing money laundering charges in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, challenging a PMLA provision. The court stated that the lawyer should face trial like any other citizen.
PAC Chairman K V Thomas, however, remained non-committal over these demands.
I will quit Rajya Sabha as well as public life if any allegation against me is proved in AgustaWestland controversy, said Congress leader Ahmed Patel.
The Supreme Court has granted bail to alleged middleman Christian Michel James in the purported Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland case. James had been in custody for six years while the investigation was ongoing. The alleged scam relates to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland. James, a British national, was extradited from Dubai in December 2018.
Congress leader Veerappa Moily stated that the negotiation for Agusta began during former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's regime and all his advisors and defence ministers were involved.
Michel was extradited in an operation under the guidance of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Central Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday.
After India scrapped its Rs 3,600 crore deal for supplying VVIP choppers, Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland on Friday said that the contract termination notice sent to it does not offer any firm basis for taking any action against it.
Surjewala statement comes after some media reports claimed that investigators questioning the suspected middleman in the 'chopper kickbacks' case were trying to extract a false confession from him that he personally knew Gandhi at the time the AgustaWestland chopper deal was finalised.
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