In what can be described as a major development in the AugustaWestland case, a Delhi Court has rejected alleged middleman, Christian Michel’s bail plea. Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar turning down the pleas, said, “Considering the overall facts and circumstances, serious nature of accusations, gravity of offence, crucial stage of investigation and aforesaid conduct of the accused, I do not consider it to be a fit case for grant of bail.”
Christian Michel was extradited from Dubai last year and taken into custody by the CBI on December 5, 2018. Thereafter, the ED took him into custody on December 22, 2018. As of now, he is in judicial custody in both the cases. Michel, Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa are the three alleged middlemen being probed into the Rs. 3,600 crore scam.
It is important to mention here that last year, the Enforcement Directorate had informed a Court that the alleged middlemen into the VVIP chopper scam had named “Mrs Gandhi” and “the son of the Italian lady” while in custody. This was a major development in the case as it was seen as a reference to Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi. ED had also said that Michel had handed over a piece of paper while shaking hands with his lawyer. When the paper was checked, it was found that the paper contained questions relating to Sonia Gandhi. The probe agency had requested that lawyer’s access to Michel be withdrawn. The Court had then reduced the meeting time between Michel and his lawyer to 15 minutes in the morning and the evening instead of the usual hour long meeting. Moreover, a three feet distance was also mandated.
Earlier this year, a chargesheet filed by the ED in a Delhi court stated that Christian Michel identified the abbreviation “AP” as Ahmed Patel. Patel is a senior Congress leader and party president Sonia Gandhi’s close aide. The probe agency stated, “The recipients of the kickback include several categories of persons namely Air Force officials, bureaucrats including defence ministry officials and top political leaders of the then ruling party. As per Christian Michel James, ‘AP’ means Ahmed Patel and ‘Fam’ means Family.”
It must be noted that Congress president, Sonia Gandhi came under attack over the AugustaWestland scam in a major way in 2016 when a 225-page judgment of the Italian Court of Appeals addressed several conversations which took place between the alleged middlemen involved in the chopper deal. These conversations reportedly had mentions of “Mrs. Gandhi” being the “driving force behind the VIP” and she and her “closest advisors” being “the aim of the British High Commissioner”.
Over the past one year, the AugustaWestland case has seen several major developments. The manner in which the Congress president has come under attack in this case with even PM Modi mentioning the case in December last year must have given some anxious moments to the Congress. Serious corruption allegations are being made against none other than the party chief herself. The grand old party’s fall in 2014 was triggered largely due to the graft allegations against the UPA government led by it at that time. The manner in which P Chidambaram was arrested in the INX media case recently has already come as a setback for the Congress and now it has been followed by a major development in the AugustaWestland case. Now it is believed that the moment Michel opens up on the case and reveal the details to the authorities, it will land Sonia Gandhi in troubled waters. It seems that the ghosts of the past continue to haunt the Sonia Gandhi led party.
