AgustaWestland Deal And Christian Michel's Alleged Role

Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, has been extradited to India and arrived late last night Tuesday Dec 04,2018  in Delhi.

Michel was arrested in UAE last year on the basis of an Interpol notice and was out on bail

1.  The case involves a 3,600-crore contract for the purchase of 12 luxury helicopters to be used by top Indian leaders like the President, Prime Minister, former PMs and other VIPs.

1. The deal with Italy-based helicopter-maker AgustaWestland was signed by the previous Manmohan Singh government in 2007.
2. Christian Michel, a British national, is one of the three middlemen being investigated over charges of organising bribes to push the deal with decision-makers in India.
3. Italian prosecutors suspect bribes worth about 10 percent of the contract, or some 55 million euros, were paid.
4. The chopper contract was scrapped in 2013 amid allegations that AgustaWestland, whose parent company is UK-based Finmeccanica, paid kickbacks in India amounting to Rs. 362 crore.
5. A former Indian Air Force chief, SP Tyagi, is also an accused in the case. He has been charged by Indian investigators with taking bribes to tweak chopper specs on the contract to help AgustaWestland at the instance of his cousins.
6. In 2016, SP Tyagi, 72, became the first ever military chief to be arrested.
7. The Congress alleges that the chopper investigation has been ramped up in an attempt to target its top leaders in election season, mainly to deflect attention from the Rafale deal controversy.
8. The BJP says the case could spell "serious trouble" for the "first family" of Congress, referring to its chief Rahul Gandhi and his mother Sonia Gandhi.
9. In Italy, the former head of AgustaWestland and of parent company Finmeccanica were given jail sentences in 2014 over the scandal but they were later acquitted.

WHAT IS AGUSTAWESTLAND BRIBERY CASE?
It is alleged that bribes were paid to “middlemen”, perhaps even politicians, when India agreed to buy 12 AgustaWestland helicopters built by Italian defence manufacturing giant Finmeccanica (now known as the Leonardo group) at an estimated cost of Rs 3,600 crore. The helicopters were for the “Communication Squadron of the Indian Air Force”. The purchase, cleared in 2010 by the previous United Progressive Alliance government, envisaged replacing ageing Mi-8 choppers to ferry VVIPs such as the President, vice-president, Prime Minister and the other dignitaries.
The Central Bureau of Investigation alleges Michel was paid a bribe totalling Rs 295 crore to swing the deal in favour of Agusta.
HOW WAS THE DEAL MANIPULATED?
It is alleged that several parameters, for instance, the height of the cabin of the helicopter, the operating ceiling, or the maximum altitude the helicopter could fly to, were tweaked to help AgustaWestland.
HOW DID ALLEGATIONS COME TO THE FORE?
The allegations came out in an Italian investigation. Three of the contracted 12 helicopters had been delivered to the Indian Air Force before the bribery became public.
Then AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini and Guiseppe Orsi, chairman of AgustaWestland’s parent company Finmeccanica, were arrested by Italian police in February 2013 on charges of paying bribes to win the deal. The then UPA government cancelled the deal, enchased the bank guarantee and ordered an inquiry.
WHAT DID THE CBI INQUIRY REVEAL?
CBI alleged the key players who manipulated the specifications for VVIP helicopter deal allegedly were British national Christian Michel, and Carlo Valentino Ferdinando Gerosa (71) and Guido Haschke, from Italy and Switzerland respectively.
CBI alleged the requirements were manipulated after a meeting between former air force chief, Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi and the accused. Air Chief Marshal Tyagi, who has denied any wrongdoing, was arrested by CBI. His cousin Julie Tyagi and a Delhi-based lawyer Gautam Khaitan were also arrested for alleged wrongdoing.
WHAT DOES CBI HOPE TO GET FROM MICHEL?
While Christian Michel has denied any wrongdoing, agencies in India want to know the identity of Indians who received kickbacks in the purchase of the helicopters. It suspects that some politicians and government functionaries could have been involved.