AgustaWestland: ED opposes bail plea by Christian Michel James in Delhi HC

PTI, Dec 10, 2024, 3:13 PM IST

The enforcement directorate on Tuesday opposed before the Delhi High Court the bail plea by alleged middleman and British national Christian Michel James in the money laundering case connected to the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland chopper case.

Appearing before Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma, the ED counsel said James was a flight risk and the gravity of the offence did not merit a relief to him.

The alleged scam relates to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland.

The lawyer for the accused emphasised the trial was unlikely to start in the near future and even if James was convicted, he could be awarded a maximum jail term of seven years whereas he had already spent six years in jail.

The court would hear the matter in January, 2025.

James was extradited from Dubai in December, 2018 and was subsequently arrested by the CBI and the ED.

He is among the three alleged middlemen being probed in the case and the other two are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

The ED’s lawyer said the high court while rejecting a previous bail plea in March, 2022, ruled allegations of money laundering were prima facie made out against James.

The agency’s counsel said James had no roots in India and only because he spent 5.11 years in jail, he was not entitled to bail.

James’ counsel said no case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) was made out against him and the probe, which started after the registration of the case in 2014, was still continuing.

“The trial is unlikely to commence. Investigation is still going on. July 3, 2014 the ECIR was registered,” he submitted.

It was also argued that since the extradition decree made no mention of the PMLA, James could not be tried for it.

The ED lawyer said the high court had already dealt with similar submissions by the accused and rejected them.

On September 25, the court dismissed James’ plea seeking bail in the CBI case.

The high court had dismissed his bail applications in both CBI and ED cases in March, 2022.

The CBI chargesheet alleged an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (Rs 2,666 crore approx) to the exchequer due to the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010, for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.

The ED chargesheet filed against James in June, 2016, alleged he had received 30 million euros (Rs 225 crore approx) from AgustaWestland.

On February 7, 2023, the top court denied bail to James while rejecting his submission to be released on the grounds that he had completed half of the maximum sentence in the cases.

On March 18, the top court further refused to examine the plea of James seeking bail under Article 32 of the Constitution on the grounds that he couldn’t be charged under any other offence apart from those mentioned in the extradition decree and he should be granted the benefit of the “doctrine of speciality”.