It seems that the UPA’s doubtful past and numerous scams during its tenure are preventing the Congress from undergoing a revamp. One such fiasco, the AgustaWestland scam, dates back to 2010 when a tender was assigned to AgustaWestland and 12 AW101 helicopters were to be acquired by the government of India at a total cost of Rs. 3,546 crores. Out of these 22 choppers, 8 had to be allotted to the VIPs-the Prime Minister, President of India and other ministers.
According to media reports, in a major development in the AgustaWestland case, the Dubai Cassation Court has approved India’s request to extradite British middlemen Christian Michel. He is a British citizen and accused of handling and routing over 60 million euros for kickbacks in the deal for AgustaWestland helicopters. UAE authorities arrested him in 2017 and since then, the Indian Investigating Agencies had been demanding to extradite Christian Michel to India.
The decision of Dubai’s highest court to uphold the appellate court’s verdict in order to allow the extradition of Christian Michel is also seen as a big boost to Modi government’s diplomacy. The Court of Cassation dismissed appeals filed by his defense lawyers. On Monday, Michel’s lawyer argued that courts in Switzerland and Italy had ruled to not extradite his client. He said, “The judicial authorities there concluded there was no criminal element in the case.”
According to a Khaleej Times report, earlier, Abdul Moneim Bin Suwaidan of Bin Suwaidan Firm for Advocates and Legal Counsels, who is representing Michel, maintained that the extradition request procedure of Michel would be a “violation” of the international treaty signed between the UAE and India. He said that Indian authorities did not follow “the proper procedures” when requesting the extradition. “The request should have been filed by India’s Ministry of Home Affairs rather than its Ministry of External Affairs.” In a desperate attempt to save Christian Michel, his lawyer argued, “Accordingly, the lower court order should be reversed.”
However, Dubai’s top court judge Abdul Aziz Abdullah rejected Michel’s appeal and upheld the appellate court’s approval for the extradition request.
Michel is only left with the option to approach the Ministry of Justice in UAE and plea for his extradition to be stopped.
The timing of the extradition could not be worse for the Congress as it desperately tries to build a narrative of fictional ‘Rafale scam’. They want to make Rafale deal, ‘a Bofors scam’ moment for the BJP in order to gain relevance but so far they have only suffered abject failure in their efforts. Extradition of Michel would add salt to their injuries. The interrogation of the middleman by the Indian agencies would definitely reveal details about the scam that the Congress has tried to hide. The fresh revelations by Michel once he is extradited would bring huge embarrassment for the Congress party ahead of 2019 general elections. It would put them on the back-foot at a crucial time. The revelations would give the BJP an issue to target the Congress party that too based on solid evidences. It is no exaggeration to say that fresh revelations coupled with many other issues and PM Modi’s achievements would exacerbate things for the Congress party in 2019 general elections.
