India News | AgustaWestland: ED Opposes Middleman Christian Michel Plea to Modify Bail Conditions

New Delhi, May 1 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday opposed in the Delhi High Court a plea of alleged middleman Christian Michel James seeking modification of his bail conditions in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money laundering case.

Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, before whom the ED filed its response to James' plea, said it would hear the matter on May 6.

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James was produced before the court from jail through video-conferencing in pursuance to its directions.

The court directed the jail authorities to produce him virtually again on May 6.

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James sought relaxing the bail condition which asked him to furnish a surety of Rs 5 lakh.

Opposing his plea, the ED said James was a foreign national, with no roots in India, and if he furnished no local surety, there was no way to ensure his presence in India.

"With regards to first condition, that is, furnishing a personal bond and surety in the sum of Rs 5 lakh, it is submitted that the applicant is a foreign national and has no roots in India and if no local surety is furnished by the applicant herein as per the conditions imposed by this court, then there is no way to ensure his presence in India and he can easily flee the country," the ED said.

Considering his previous conduct, the federal probe agency said, it would be difficult to secure his presence in future if the condition was waived off.

James, in his plea through advocate Aljo K Joseph, also sought to revoke the condition of surrendering his passport saying his old passport had expired and the process of obtaining a new one was likely to take at least 4-8 weeks.

The ED objected to the plea saying he could undertake the process of renewal of his passport and the high court could direct the embassy that once the passport was renewed, it should be handed over to the investigating officer or sent straightaway to the trial court to curtail any misuse.

On March 4, the high court granted him bail in the ED case whereas the Supreme Court granted him the reprieve in a related CBI case on February 18.

Probe agencies reported irregularities in the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from Italian manufacturing company AgustaWestland.

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 CBI, in its chargesheet, claimed an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) 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 received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)