VVIP chopper scam: Christian Michel sent to 7-day ED custody

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Saturday sent Christian Michel, arrested in the Rs 36,000 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case by the CBI, to seven-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar dismissed the bail plea of Michel, the alleged middleman in the case.
During the hearing, the agency had sought 15-day custody of Michel following which the court allowed the ED to interrogate Michel for 15 minutes inside the courtroom itself.Soon after his interrogation, Michel was arrested by ED.
The ED had sought his separate arrest in a money laundering case saying there was a gap in the money trail being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation and them.
"We are two different agencies. It's impossible to have a joint investigation in the ambit of the law. We need to stand on our own feet," the ED said.
The agency said that it needs to probe money laundering aspect of the chain of proceeds of crime and the properties brought with that money, all of which have to be identified and recovered.
"We are aware of an investigation of Euro 30 million. The CBI's investigation is of more than EUR 37 million. We have to cover that gap," the ED said.
It further alleged that two of the properties have been bought out of the proceeds of crime and hence it is purely in the scope of money laundering.
"The money has been used and came through a hawala channel. It has not come through official channel. That has to be probed and he needed to be confronted in that regard. The co-accused have to be confronted with.
"Both channels -- one channel through which money came and the other through which it was used -- have to be unearthed. Money trail has to be identified. The nexus of Guido Haschke, Carlo Gerosa and Gautam Khaitan (the other accused) also have to be unearthed," the agency said.
It said that the agency was forced to seek "open-ended non-bailable warrant (NBW)".
Open-ended NBW does not carry a time limit for execution unlike non-bailable warrant.
The ED alleged that Michel has not joined the investigation in Italy and it cannot be said that the points the agency wants to probe here has already been investigated.
Michel is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
The CBI has alleged there was an estimated loss of €398.21 million (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth €556.262 million.
The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received €30 million (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.
(With inputs from agencies)