ED sought his custody for seven days, claiming it had knowledge of unidentified assets which value more than Rs 500 crore and his custodial interrogation was required.
A Delhi Court on Friday dismissed the bail pleas of alleged middleman Christian Michel in connection with alleged AgustaWestland scam related corruption case filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, and the money laundering case by the Enforcement Directorate.
Despite Nirav Modi win, in the last five years, India managed to bring only about 20 fugitive offenders.
Michel may prove to be the missing link in the money trail in the alleged multi-crore scam being probed by the CBI.
Shah said the 'friendship' between Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the deal, and Congress' top leadership is 'time tested and deep'.
The ED named former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi, his two cousins, lawyer Gautam Khaitan, two Italian middlemen and Finmeccanica in its chargesheet.
The court asked them to furnish a bail bond of Rs 1 lakh with one surety of the like amount.
Sanjeev Tyagi, a cousin of former Air Chief S P Tyagi, on Saturday rubbished charges of having received kickbacks in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal, saying it was an "absolute lie" even as he admitted having met one of the middlemen 17 years back on a power sector deal.
Michel was extradited in an operation under the guidance of National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, the Central Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday.
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.
Others named in the chargesheet include alleged European middlemen in the deal, Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke.
When the IAF veterans' bail petition came up for hearing, in an unprecedented move, senior serving and retired Air Marshals and Air Vice Marshals rallied behind the accused officers and appeared before the court to give sureties for each, something that has never happened ever before.
Along with Tyagi, his cousin Sanjiv alias Julie Tyagi and lawyer Gautam Khaitan were also arrested.
Michel was arrested in the United Arab Emirates and extradited to India on December 4.
Parrikar had recently challenged the Congress to show the order by the UPA government confirming the blacklisting.
A bail plea was also moved on his behalf. The court did not give any specific date for hearing the bail plea.
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.
Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com offers his unique perspective on several issues of the day.
The AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal will once again dominate the proceedings in Parliament on Thursday.
Michel, extradited from Dubai, was arrested by the ED on December 22 last year.
Orsi was at the helm of AugustaWestland when the deal was struck and he is suspected of involvement in the payment of bribes.
In his plea, Michel said the investigation regarding him was over and no useful purpose would be served by keeping him in further incarceration.
The probe agency sought nine days further remand of Michel for his custodial interrogation saying he was not cooperating in the investigation of the case.
The chargesheet said according to the 'budget sheet, 30 million were paid to Air Force officers.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday questioned former Indian air force Chief S P Tyagi and two others in connection with alleged irregularities in the AgustaWestland helicopter deal.
The Indian Air Force headquarters in a reply said, 'The information sought vide your RTI application is not available at this HQ.'
The Central Bureau of Investigation will soon approach United Arab Emirates authorities seeking extradition of British national and alleged middleman Christian Michel James in connection with its probe in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers deal.
The agency questioned him on various aspects of the case including his alleged links with middlemen, his alleged trips to Italy, reasons behind changing specifications, and relations with his cousins on Monday, the sources said.
The British high commission had sought consular access to Michel after he was arrested in the first week of December.
Michel, who was extradited from Dubai recently, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate on December 22 and sent to a seven-day custody of the agency over money-laundering charges in the scam by a court.
The former board member of Aeromatrix, which was allegedly used to route bribe amount, denied the payments were part of kick backs to clinch the deal.
Saxena, a director of Dubai-based firms UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings, is one of the accused named in the chargesheet filed by the ED in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland scam.
A Delhi court on Saturday sent former Air Force Chief S P Tyagi, arrested in Rs 450 crore Agusta Westland bribery case in procurement of 12 VVIP helicopters, to police custody for four days after the CBI said he was needed to be quizzed to unearth a "very large conspiracy having international ramifications".
With an aggressive Opposition and unyielding government, important legislation could be the biggest casualty, as details of the helicopter contract surface.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has started another probe against UK-based helicopter supplier AgustaWestland for alleged corruption in the supply of Light Utility Helicopters to Army.
He was subjected to a marathon 10-hour questioning on Thursday by ED investigators.
Special judge Arvind Kumar issued notice to the agency and directed it to file a reply on Michel's plea, which had stated that he had not named anybody in connection with the deal during investigation by the ED and that even though the court has not taken cognisance of the documents, in order to make the entire case a sensation again in the media, the agency had leaked the chargesheet.
'We will continue to ask why Modi and his government were benefactors to this AgustaWestland company, why within 40 days they overturned the ban?'
In a bid to corner the Congress after it launched a tirade against it for imposition of President's rule in Uttarakhand, the ruling dispensation has decided to raise issues of AgustaWestland Chopper scam, Aircel Maxis scam and the Ishrat Jahan case in the Parliament on Wednesday.
CBI had registered a case against Tyagi along with 13 others including his cousins and European middlemen in the case.
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