British High Commission Official Meets UK Businessman Christian Michel

India’s external affairs ministry official confirmed on Friday (11) that a second secretary level official from the British High Commission has met UK businessman Christian Michel after a request the Indian government received from the high commission last month.

Christian Michel is a British national, 57, arrested by the Indian investigators for his alleged role as a middleman in AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case. He is currently being held at Tihar Jail.

“I can confirm that he has been granted consular access,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar told in a weekly news briefing.

The consular access was granted on Thursday (11). “Our staff supporting a British man who is detained in India, and have visited him to check his welfare,” said British high commission in a statement.

When asked about Michel’s request to a special court on Thursday to be permitted to communicate with his members of family and others in foreign countries, Kumar added that “we have shared in the past that he has been allowed to communicate with his family members. I have not seen the plea which he has entered on this matter.”

Meanwhile, the officers who are closely observing the developments noted that the officers would consider any official plea from the British High Commission for Michel to be permitted more communication with his members of the family.

The UK government earlier requested the Indian government to access Michel Christian, the alleged middleman in the Rs 36 billion VVIP chopper agreement signed and scraped by the Indian government.

The UK national Michel was extradited from UAE after necessary legal proceedings on December 4. He is one among the three middlemen being investigated by Indian investigators in AgustaWestland chopper case.

India’s federal law enforcement and economic intelligence agency the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received Rs 2.25bn from the firm, AgustaWestland.

Michel is one among the three middlemen being investigated in the case, besides Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, by the ED and CBI.

Both the CBI and the ED had notified an Interpol red corner notice against Michel earlier.

India on January 1, 2014, had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the Indian Air Force (IAF) on an alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of paying kickbacks to the tune of Rs 4.23bn by it for securing the agreement.

The federal probe agency CBI has alleged that there was an estimated loss of Rs 26.66bn to the exchequer in the deal that was agreed on February 8, 2010, to supply VVIP choppers worth €556.262m.