AgustaWestland chopper scam: SC denies bail to alleged middleman Christian Michel James

The Rs 3,600-crore alleged scam relates to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland

The Supreme Court Tuesday declined to entertain the bail plea of a British national Christian Michel, an accused in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala said that Section 436A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), which allows undertrials to be released on bail if they have undergone half the sentence of the maximum punishment, would not be applicable in the instant case.

After hearing the counsel of Michel and the Union government, the bench said, “We find no merit in the special leave petition." The court, however, said this order would not come in the way of the petitioner moving the trial court for regular bail.

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Michel, who has been in custody for over four years, contended that all co-accused have been released on bail while he had served more than half of his sentence in judicial custody.

During the hearing, the bench asked Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appearing for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), as to how long the agencies would keep him inside the jail as no charge sheet has been filed in the matter and the probe and detention were still ongoing.

"How long will you keep him in custody ultimately, say something, a particular time," the bench asked. The bench told Jain that it cannot be open-ended from your side and there should be a time period to complete the probe.

Jain replied that custody would be necessary till the letters-rogatory (LR) are answered.

"How long will the process of LRs continue," the bench asked him. The court also asked the petitioner's counsel, Aljo Joseph how he would assure that he would not be a flight risk.

He said that agencies had thrice visited his client in Dubai, where he had cooperated.

Jain also submitted that the allegations involved money laundering, illegal gratification, among others.

Michel, a British citizen, was extradited to India on December 5, 2018 from the UAE. On his arrival in India, he was arrested by the CBI and days later, arrested by the financial probe agency, the ED. Since then, he has been lodged in judicial custody at Tihar Jail.

On January 1, 2014, India cancelled the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over alleged breach of contractual obligations and on charges of paying kickbacks amounting to Rs 423 crore.