ED's Supplementary Chargesheet in AgustaWestland Case Names Senior Cong Leaders: Reports

India.com
April 05, 2019

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has named senior Congress leaders in the chargesheet against Christian Michel, who is the key accused in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal scam.

Some reports say that as per the supplementary chargesheet, Michel said that 'AP' stood for Ahmed Patel and 'Fam' stood for Family. Abbreviations were used to record kickbacks of 30 million euros to 'Air Force officials', 'bureaucrats' and even 'top leaders of the (then) ruling party'. However, sources said the leaders were not named as accused. The Patiala House Court will be hearing the matter next on April 6.

According to the chargesheet, these payments were withdrawn through 'hawala'. Former IAF chief S P Tyagi is also an accused in the case. Michel was extradited from Dubai only last year.

The 52-page supplementary chargesheet has mentioned three more names Michel's business partner David Syms and two companies Global Services FZE, UAE, and Global Trade & Commerce Ltd, adding to the 38 already named as accused in the case.

The supplementary chargesheet is reported to complete the cycle of how 70 million euros were paid by AgustaWestland as bribe in the VVIP Chopper deal.
The chargesheet said the money was paid through the two middlemen - Michel and Guido Haschke.

A leading daily pointed out that of the 70 million euros, 42 million euros went into the bank accounts of Michel's Global Services FZE, UAE, and Global Trade & Commerce Ltd. The remaining 28 million euros was transferred to the bank account of Haschke's IDS Tunisia.

The supplementary chargesheet comes amid Lok Sabha elections. The AgustaWestland case has anyway figured in PM Modi's campaign speeches. The Congress has claimed that the Centre and its agencies had forced Michel to sign a false confession naming UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "Michael was arrested in Dubai for AgustaWestland case. Now, his advocate Rosemary Patrizi states that Modi government and its agencies were forcing him to sign false confession naming Sonia Gandhi ji."

"The ED and the CBI have turned into dirty trick departments of BJP," Sujewala had said while attacking the Centre.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

India Joins Russia in Voting Against West-Backed Move to Expand Powers of OPCW

The Wire: June 28, 2018 New Delhi: India voted against a UK-backed move that will allow the global chemical weapons watchdog to apportion blame for illegal attacks, criticising the decision to grant “unchecked powers” to the head of the group which could be used for “partisan” purposes. On Wednesday, more than two-thirds of the member states of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) voted to authorise the international body to identify the perpetrators and sponsors of a chemical weapons attack. It also specifically called on the OPCW’s technical secretariat to begin work on identifying the perpetrators behind the use of chemical weapons in Syria. The draft decision, sponsored by 30 countries, was adopted at the fourth special session of the conference of the states parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention at the Hague, with 82 in favour and 24 negative votes. While Europe, the United States and their allies voted ‘yes’, there was strong oppo...
Read more

ED tracks Swiss Bank A/Cs of Agusta scamster

The Poineer February 10,2019 Rakesh K Singh The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked a dozen Swiss bank accounts in the name of Rajiv Saxena, who is key accused in the Rs 3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam. The ED has also found out accounts held by  his family members and associates where the kickbacks in the now scrapped deal were allegedly parked. Two bank accounts are in the name of Rajiv Saxena’s  associates Pankaj Jain and Sumita Jain who are also the authorised signatories. The  third is in the name of another associate Ajit Singh Bubber, but Rajiv and his family members are authorised signatories. The remaining nine accounts are largely owned and operated by Rajiv, his family members and associates. Rajiv Saxena was deported by the UAE authorities on January 30 and the ED formally arrested him the next day and a court later granted his remand to the agency. He is currently undergoing custodial interrogation by the ED. The agency had in 2017...
Read more

As financial insecurity rises in urban India, so does investment in insurance

Image
Scroll.in March 13, 2020 Urban Indians are becoming less confident about their financial security. Up to 58% of them fret over financial independence post retirement, which is a 4% increase from last year. An equal share of urban Indians worry about meeting their daily medical expenses and sustaining their current lifestyle once they stop working. The findings are part of a survey published by Delhi-based Max Life Insurance in association with London-based consultancy Kantar. The firms surveyed 7,014 respondents in 25 cities, including six metros, nine tier-1 cities, and 10 tier-2 cities, between December 2019 and January 2020. Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz The trends Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz Source: Max Life Insurance via Quartz A significant share of urban Indians also say their families will have no financial support in the event of the breadwinner’s death. In such a scenario, around 57% believe the family sav...
Read more