Copter deal: ED freezes shares worth Rs 86 crore

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), investigating the multi-crore AgustaWestland helicopter deal case, on Monday froze shares to the tune of Rs 86 crore alleging that they were procured through kickbacks received by two middlemen in the purchase of VVIP helicopters from Italy.

Sources said the decision to freeze the shares was taken after the ED conducted searches at 10 locations in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad in connection with the case last week. The agency said that during the probe it discovered that an amount of 28 million Euro was paid to Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, the two alleged middlemen in the case, through a Tunisa-based company. Later 12.4 million Euros were transferred to a web of companies based in Mauritius, Dubai and Singapore before they landed up in three Indian companies who purchased shares from the said funds, said the agency.

The agency, which seized a number of documents and computer hardware during searches, added that it had “unearthed the evidence of transfer of funds” and hence it has issued orders to freeze shares of certain firms worth Rs 86.07 crore that are located in the three countries. The freezing of shares has been done under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The agency recently filed a supplementary chargesheet naming British national and alleged middleman Christian Michel James as part of its probe. He is the third middleman, apart from Haschke and Gerosa, who is being investigated by both the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI.

The ED had registered a PMLA case to probe the deal in 2014 and named 13 people in its FIR. It had also arrested Delhi-based businessman Gautam Khaitan in the case, who is out on bail now. The ED had earlier submitted that Mr Khaitan was on the board of Aeromatrix, a Chandigarh-based company that was allegedly a front firm for financial dealings in the chopper deal.