New Delhi: Christian Michel James, the middleman in Rs 3600 crore AgustaWestland chopper deal, has made sensational revelations that could further trouble Congress president Sonia Gandhi, whose name is already mired in the controversy after an Italian court verdict.
This time, Michel has confirmed describing Sonia as ‘driving force’ behind the decision to acquire news helicopters when her party was in power. He, however, denied personally knowing either her or her son Rahul Gandhi.
"I have to protect the Gandhis to protect myself," Michel, wanted by both CBI and ED, told NDTV. "I have to prove they are innocent to prove my innocence.”
Both CBI and ED have notified Michel under the Interpol Red Corner Notice. The agencies are also in touch with their UAE counterparts seeking Michel’s extradition. During PM Narendra Modi’s recent visit to the UAE, the two sides have agreed to enhance cooperation in tracking crime.
Also a formal request regarding his extradition has been prepared and is likely to be despatched in a few days.
Michel is one of three alleged middlemen whom the Indian investigating agencies suspect to have brokered the VVIP chopper deal in favour of AgustaWestland.
Michel’s name has been thrown up since reports on the Italian court cited a note from him in which he had described the Congress president as the ‘driving force’ behind the chopper deal.
Michel, according to Time of India, said that his note on calling ‘Sonia the driving force is real, but this is lobbying, not bribing’.
"As Mrs Gandhi is the driving force behind the VIP helicopter purchase, she will not fly any more in the Mi-8," said the note which also named then PM Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, M Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandes, MK Narayanan and Vinay Singh.
“My suggestion to target Sonia Gandhi doesn't mean that bribes were paid as I thought she was the most powerful person (at that time) like Amit Shah is today,” Michel said.
Further, Michel stood by his earlier claim that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met his Italian counterpart in New York last year and had offered to release two Italian marines imprisoned in India in exchange for information about the VVIP chopper deal.
The VVIP chopper deal is once again in news from last few weeks after an Italian court referenced middlemen mentioning Congress bigwigs including Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh. ED is probing the case in which 70 million Euros (about Rs 360 crore) were allegedly paid as kickbacks for securing the deal. On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica's British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 choppers to the IAF.
