British National Christian James Michael, the  alleged middleman in the Rs 3700 crore Augusta Westland chopper scam was extradited to India from Dubai and will be produced before a CBI court on Wednesday.

He was brought to New Delhi on special aircraft belonging to the Research and Analysis Wing close to midnight and taken to the CBI headquarters. He was brought back by a team of the agency’s officers  who were specially in Dubai to get him back.  A Dubai court had last month upheld  that he could be extradited though India officially made the request to the Gulf nation sometime back. Based on the criminal investigations conducted in the case by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED), his extradition was officially ordered. The ED, in its chargesheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received EUR 30 million (about Rs 225 crore) from Augusta Westland. The money   was bribe paid by the firm to execute the 12 helicopter deal in favour of the firm in ‘guise of’ genuine transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country, according to the chargesheet.

It is alleged that he entered into criminal conspiracy with co-accused persons which included the then IAF chief SP Tyagi and his family members and in pursuance thereof, the public servants had abused their official positions by reduction of service ceiling of the VVIPs helicopter from 6000 metres to 4500 metres.

He was allegedly a frequent visitor to India and was operating as a middleman for defence procurement through a wide network of sources cultivated in the IAF and Defence Ministry at different levels including retired and serving IAF officials.

–India Legal Bureau