JOIN USIndian agencies investigating the VVIP chopper scam have collected a trache of documents on the bribe received by country's officials.
However, they are waiting for more details from abroad to pinpoint the money trail. The Indian leg of investigations by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate in the case are almost over and they believe that middleman Christian Michel, who is still out of their reach, could throw more light into the way the bribe money travelled.
Both CBI and ED want Michel, a British national whose whereabouts is not known, to be brought to India and face investigations.
Investigators said AgustaWestland had assigned Michel with the tasks, including that of managing media. The Court of Appeals in Milan had in its judgement sentencing two former AgustaWestland officials said that Michel had received 330 million Euro from the company for various tasks.
The Italian authorities had earlier shared around 1.5 lakh documents related to the VVIP chopper deal.
According to the CBI, Indian officials were paid around Rs 360 crore as bribe for swinging the deal for AgustaWestland.
Sources said Michel could throw more light on the people, including politicians, who received the money. Michel had used some of his Indian contacts like Gautam Khaitan, who was earlier arrested in the case by Enforcement Directorate, for getting his work done. Investigators believe Michel, who was earlier staying in the Gulf, is now in the United Kingdom.
The Enforcement Directorate had last year attached five properties worth Rs 6.2 crore owned by cousins of former Air Force chief S P Tyagi in connection with its probe. Tyagi is also named in the FIR by CBI and ED.
Sources said the bribe money was routed through a circuitous path. According to investigating agencies, they had detected that funds for the deal were routed through Aeromatrix, run by Khaitan, and few others.