AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam: ED, Christian Michel seek inquiry into leak of chargesheet

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and British-national Christian Michel, alleged middleman arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case, Saturday sought before a Delhi court an inquiry into the purported leakage of the supplementary chargesheet filed in the case to media. The ED urged the court to issue a notice to a news organisation asking it to explain how it accessed the documents, whereas Michel supported the demand of a probe while accusing the agency of politicising the matter. [caption id=“attachment_5683961” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Christian Michel. PTI[/caption] ED’s special public prosecutors DP Singh and NK Matta claimed that the matter was “serious”. “The chargesheet’s copy is yet to be supplied to the accused persons. However, Michel’s lawyers came to know what we have written in it and filed an application on that behalf. This is a very serious matter and an inquiry must be ordered to ascertain how the copy of the chargesheet was leaked,” the ED said. 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. The court will take up ED’s plea related to leakage of the chargesheet copy on 11 April. Meanwhile, the court issued summons to Michel’s business partner and middleman David Nigel John Syms as an accused in the case. Syms, named as accused in the chargesheet, is asked to appear before court on 9 May. The court also summoned two firms — Global Services FZE and Global Traders — as accused in the case. Michel and Syms are directors of the two firms. The court directed to keep the copy the chargesheet in a sealed cover until further orders. It also extended by two days the custodial interrogation of Sushen Mohan Gupta, an alleged defence agent arrested by the agency in the case. It further sought a reply from the agency on Gupta’s bail application by 9 April. Gupta was arrested by the agency under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The probe agency had said Gupta’s role in the case came to light on the basis of disclosures made by Rajiv Saxena, who has turned approver in the case after he was deported from the UAE and arrested by the agency here. Michel’s counsel Aljo K Joseph Friday moved an application before the court, saying, “Michel has not named anyone in his statement before the agency which is being leaked to media. This is only to make the matter sensational and prejudice the case against my client.” He claimed the copy of the chargesheet was provided to the media before it was provided to Michel. Michel was arrested by the ED on 22 December after his extradition from Dubai. He is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the chopper scam by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. The agency had earlier told the court that Michel received €24.25 million and 1,60,96,245 pounds from the AgustaWestland deal. The ED told the court that it had identified Michel’s properties purchased with the proceeds of the crime. The ED, in its chargesheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he had received €30 million (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland. The CBI, in its chargesheet, has alleged an estimated loss of €398.21 million (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on 8 February, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros