SC grants bail to Christian Michel, alleged middleman in AgustaWestland case
This story was originally published at 16:11 IST on 18 February 2025
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NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Christian James Michel, one of the three alleged middlemen being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the AgustaWestland chopper kickback case. The court said that the bail was granted as Michel, who was extradited from the United Arab Emirates in 2018, has been in custody for more than six years and the investigation was still going on.
The probe agency has filed three chargesheets and two supplementary chargesheets in the case. "We are inclined to grant bail on conditions as may be determined by the trial court. The CBI may appropriately request the trial court for imposing conditions before releasing him on bail," said the bench of Justices Vikram Nath Singh and Sandeep Mehta.
The apex court was hearing a bail plea by Michel in the case filed by the CBI in connection with the AgustaWestland scam that surfaced in 2013. The scam involved money being paid to middlemen and Indian officials in 2006 and 2007 to purchase helicopters for very, very important people. The probe agency has alleged that there was an estimated loss of about INR 26.66 billion to the exchequer in the deal that was signed for the supply of choppers. James was accused of creating a paper trail to route kickbacks in the chopper deal. His bail plea was rejected by the Delhi High Court in September last year. End
Reported by Surya Tripathi
Edited by Tanima Banerjee
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