AugustaWestland chopper deal middleman being extradited to India
Dubai/New Delhi, Dec 4 (IBNS): UAE authorities are extraditing to India British national Christian Michel James, a key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal case, Khaleej Times reported on Tuesday evening.
James "has departed for India from Dubai on a private plane", the report said.
On Nov 19, a Dubai court upheld a lower court's order that allowed AgustaWestland deal’s alleged middleman Christian James Michael's extradition to India. The Court of Cassation upheld a lower court order which said that Michel could be extradited, dismissing appeals filed by his defence lawyers, media reports said.
That day, Emirati lawyer Abdul Moneim Bin Suwaidan of Bin Suwaidan Firm for Advocates and Legal Counsels, representing Michel, submitted documents showing that courts in Switzerland and Italy had ruled on not to extradite his client, reported Khaleej Times.
Last year, Michel was arrested in the UAE.
The extradition proceedings are going on since then.
The British middleman was wanted in India for allegedly organising bribes in exchange for a contract for VVIP helicopters.
An Italian court investigated the contract because Agusta's parent company is Finmeccanica, an Italian defence manufacturer, and decided that vast amounts of bribes were routed to India by company executives to land the deal for 12 VVIP helicopters for about Rs. 3,600 crore.
The deal was cancelled by India in 2014 after the Italians began investigating it.
In 2016, former Air Force Chief SP Tyagi was arrested in connection with the VVIP chopper deal scam. He was the first ever military chief of the nation who was arrested.
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