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    VVIP chopper deal: Middlemen possibly had other deals on radar

    Synopsis

    Dispatches allegedly sent by alleged middleman Christian Michel and his interrogation showed that a conscious effort was made to project the Rs 3,600-crore chopper deal to be a victory of the “British” (British arm of Italian company Finmeccanica), they said.

    Chopper---BCCL
    New Delhi: Investigation into the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal has revealed that middlemen involved in the deal allegedly had some other Indian defence deals on their radar, including one for light observation helicopters and a contract to refurbish an airport, people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

    Dispatches allegedly sent by alleged middleman Christian Michel and his interrogation showed that a conscious effort was made to project the Rs 3,600-crore chopper deal to be a victory of the “British” (British arm of Italian company Finmeccanica), they said.

    This was done for two reasons, according to Michel’s 2,300-plus pages interrogation report by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), exclusively accessed by ET. Firstly, to ensure that no eyebrows are raised over “implied connections” of “the chairperson of the UPA” with Italy, and secondly, so that the Italian company remains in a position to secure more defence deals in India.

    “...if the VIP was seen as Italian, then Italy would not win any more helicopter deals for a while as India to an extent likes to give business to a spread of countries,” Michel allegedly said in his handwritten statement recorded under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), which is admissible in law. “Also I mentioned ‘politics’ (because) we are always cautious about Italy and implied connections with the Chairperson of the UPA,” it said.

    According to the interrogation report, Michel was confronted with a dispatch allegedly sent by him to a top official of AgustaWestland company on May 22, 2008. The dispatch referred to a news article and read, “The problem with this article is that they identify the 101 as an Italian product which we must avoid. Not only due to politics, but if we win the VI, it will be a British victory leaving Italy free to go after LOH (light observation helicopter).”

    Michel was also confronted with another dispatch allegedly sent by him to another top executive of AgustaWestland on August 28, 2009. The dispatch read, “When the CNC informs you formally that you are not L1 (lowest tender) we should launch our attack. The purpose will be to have IAI and Tata disqualified and investigated”.

    In response to ED’s accusation that the said dispatch pointed to “dubious tactics” adopted by him in securing VVIP helicopter deal, Michel claimed that the dispatch did not relate to the VVIP helicopter deal.

    “This fax is not about VVIP but about airport refurbishment. Israeli aircraft industry was fighting against Finmeccanica,” he said in his handwritten statement. “Paolo Girasole (then India country head of Finmeccanica)was complaining that IAI were interfering in the decision making process and wanted to know what to do to make people follow the rules.”

    Denying any wrongdoing, Michel has said, “This was not being dubious, but me explaining to Paolo how to have people follow the rules. Paolo thought it was deal fixing. I was not involved. (I) was only giving a friend advice.”

    Elaborating, Michel has claimed, “The problem was on Thursday the chairman of the CNC (committee for airport refurbishing) stated that there were omissions in the IAI offer. Then the chairman proposed a highly unconventional solution. The CNC chairman proposed that IAI be called back informally on September 1 by the CNC. IAI should be shown their omissions and if they offer to add them free of charge IAI can stay as L1, which was a violation of the selection process. Therefore, I was trying to propose to Paolo about the remedy to this.”

    People with direct knowledge of the matter said CNC referred to the ‘contract negotiation committee’ and IAI referred to Israeli aviation manufacturer Israel Aerospace Industries.



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    ( Originally published on Nov 26, 2020 )
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