Haven’t met Sonia Gandhi, says Agusta’s middleman

Fugitive AgustaWestland middleman Christian Michel said on Wednesday he had never met Congress president Sonia Gandhi or then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to push for the purchase of the VVIP helicopters.

“No, never,” was Mr Michel’s reply when asked whether he had ever met Mrs Gandhi, Dr Singh or then defence minister A.K. Antony to push the deal. In an interview to a TV news channel in Abu Dhabi, he said: “I have never met any of these.” he sought to clear his name in the scam, claiming he had once shaken hands with then IAF chief Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi in New Delhi but then “avoided him” later due to his links with Italian businessman Guido Haschke and another middleman.

Mr Michel is one of three alleged middlemen whom Indian investigative agencies suspect had brokered the deal in favour of AgustaWestland.

“I probably met him (S.P. Tyagi) in the Gymkhana Club and I think I shook hands there. But because of his association with Haschke I really avoided him,” he claimed.

Mr Michel also said he would like to bring his driver Narayan Bahadur, questioned recently by Indian agencies, to Dubai. “I know him. He is my dear friend.”

Mr Michel also said that BJP MP Subramanian Swamy had not lied about the deal, but may have been misled.

“He has authenticated (documents) what was given in the CAG report. The CAG report was prepared in a great hurry as the deal was always blowing away. They (CAG) are not aviation experts, they are bureaucrats asked to put together a document way beyond their expertise. So he was misled by his own documentation,” he said.

Michel said he would like to bring his driver Narayan Bahadur, who according to Indian investigating agencies has been in touch with him till recently, to Dubai. “He (Bahadur) is my driver. I know him. He is my dear friend. I hope and have full intention to keep him for the rest of my life. He has been with me for years and years. I am going to bring him to Dubai and look after him,” said Mr Michel. The CBI recently examined Narayan Bhadur, and the ED, which had already examined him, reportedly found he was getting overseas wire payments from Mr Michel. Earlier, the middleman’s lawyer Rosemary Patrizi Dos Anjos said he was ready to come to India and face the investigators if he gets an assurance that he will not be arrested.

The CBI on Wednesday questioned Praveen Bakshi, CEO of Aeromatrix Infosolutions Pvt Ltd, Pratap Aggarwal, managing director of IDS Infotech, and Gautam Khaitan, a Delhi-based lawyer and accused in the case, over its investigation into the VVIP helicopter deal. The CBI had on March 13, 2013 booked the former IAF chief and 12 others under charges of bribery, cheating and corruption in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland scam. The former IAF chief has denied allegations of any corruption in the VVIP helicopter deal.