Supreme Court: In a criminal special leave petition by British Arms Consultant Christian James Michel against the Delhi High Court’s decision denying him bail in Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) case in AgustaWestland chopper scam case, the Division Bench of Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, JJ. allowed the plea and granted him bail.
Michel was arrested in 2018 on allegations based on disclosure made by the then Head of External Relations of Finmeccanica [holding company of AgustaWestland International Ltd.]. The Italian authorities began an investigation in the year 2011 regarding the payment of bribes through a middleman and Michel, in relation to the supply of 12 VVIP helicopters by AWIL to the Government of India. The surveillance revealed that AWIL had paid bribes disguised as payments to various firms for engineering jobs.
It was also alleged that being a consultant of Agusta Westland, he was roped in 2006 for liaison work, in furtherance of which he and another person combined received more than Euro 70 million in the companies beneficially owned and controlled by them, of which Euro 30 million were transferred to the applicant’s companies.
[Christian James Michel v. Central Bureau of Investigation, SLP(Criminal) No. 17016/2024, decided on: 18-02-2025]
