“In a note that Italian prosecutors have produced in court to allege the vital role played by middleman Christian Michel in fixing the VVIP chopper deal, the British ‘consultant’ has told top AgustaWestland officials to ‘target’ the closest advisers for UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the contract.
The March 2008 note, which has been sent by the elusive Christian Michel to Peter Hulett, the then Head of Region, Govt Sales at the AgustaWestland India office, is one of the many documents that Italian investigators seized from the office of Switzerland based middleman Guido Haschke who is currently facing trial in the case of alleged 51 million euro kickbacks generated in the Indian VVIP chopper deal.
India has in January terminated the deal on the grounds that the integrity pact was violated and that unfair practices were adopted to bag the deal by Agusta. The Defence Ministry is currently engaged in an arbitration process on the contract that was inked in 2010. The March 15, 2008 note that has been produced in Italian court is addressed to Peter and instructs him to advise the British High Commissioner in India (AgustaWestland is an Anglo-Italian firm) to ‘target’ people close to Sonia Gandhi.
“As Mrs Gandhi is the driving force behind the VIP, she will not fly any more in the Mi 8. Mrs Gandhi and her closest advisers are the people the High Commissioner should target,” the note reads. Mi 8′s are the current VIP role choppers flown by the air force. The document has been produced by prosecutors as part of their questioning of Guido Haschke. In January, as reported by The Indian Express, they also asked Haschke in court if the reference to an abbreviation of AP in a ‘budget sheet’ of the middlemen referred to Gandhi’s key aide Ahmed Patel. Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano has also reported that the prosecutors produced a photograph of Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel during the hearing to question Haschke but the middlemen said that he only recognised Gandhi from the picture.”
The Government of India has just instituted an inquiry and the CBI officers have left for Italy to get to know the details.
In the meanwhile Dr. Subramanian Swamy posted in Facebook,
“My sources say that the provision of 28 million euros for “the family” disclosed in the 568 page investigation report is for TDK(Sonia) sisters.”: Subramanian Swamy
Two sisters of Sonia, Anushka and Nadia under scanner. Italians tell me,says Subramanian Swamy”
The story unraveling reminds me of the sequence of events in Bofors scam.
The Guardian Echoes this.
‘The copter scam brings to mind the Bofors scam of the 1980s when Rajiv Gandhi was the Prime Minister. When the first details of the Bofors scam emerged in 1987,it became apparent that a small group of persons close to Rajiv Gandhi in India and Europe had financially benefitted from the contract.“
Italian media is focusing on the Congress connection and the Indian media Pioneer is following it up.
Here are the updates .
Story:
AgustaWestland chopper deal too has telltale signs of a Congress connection. According to the Italian newspaper ‘Lettera 43’, main commission agent Christian Michel’s late father was “close to the Congress party”, and the other middleman, Guido Ralph Haschke, was a Director of Emaar-MGF, a real estate company owned by relatives of Kanishka Singh, who is associated with a Congress high-up.
Michel was also the agent of Dassault, which has emerged as the lowest bidder for the Indian Air Force’s 10 billion dollar deal for Rafale fighter jets, supposed to be the world’s biggest tender.
According to the Italian newspaper report on November 20, 2012, the “mysterious” British citizen Michel, described as “Man of Bears”, had received 60 per cent (around `210 crore) of the kickback amount of 51 million Euros (around `360 crore) from the Finmeccanica, the manufactures of AgustaWestland choppers.
The investigation report filed in the Italian court corroborated the findings. It said that the CEO of Finmeccanica, Giuseppe Orsi, and AgustaWestland CEO Bruno Spagnolini had paid 30 million Euros (`217 crore) to Christian Michel. “Orsi and Spagnolin, moreover, paid Christian Michel a total amount of about Euros 30 million, partly destined to support the corrupt activity meant to bag the order and partly to implement the contract,” the document said.
“Born in 1961, Michel is little known to the public. On the internet, there are no evidences of his business or his statement. Not a photo or an interview. Yet, Michel is very well introduced in Defence establishments in New Delhi,” says the Italian newspaper report titled “Christian Michel, the English middleman of Finmeccanica.”
“His contacts are stronger especially with the Indian Defence, that he has inherited from his father, Wolfgang Max Michel Richard, a British businessman who was very active in India between 80s and 90s and was close to the Congress party,” the reports says.
The detailed article on the business background of the “mysterious” Michel stated that his father had business interests in Libya, Russia, Iran and Iraq. He was a Labour party’s fund-raiser before his death in August 2012.
Italian newspaper reports as well as French Court records establish that Michel was an agent of Dassault, which is set to bag the 10 billion dollar worth deal from Indian Air Force.
According to these reports, in 2004, Michel sued Dassault over non-payment of commission for the purchase of Mirage aircraft for Indian Air Force in 2000. However, Michel lost the case at Paris Commerical Tribunal on the technical grounds that his agreement with Dassault had expired.
Haschke case is all more bizarre. The man who confessed to the Italian court on his connections with former Air Chief SP Tyagi was the Director of Emmar MGF, the firm which bagged the biggest deal in connection with Commonwealth Games. Haschke is neither builder nor a real estate enterprenur, so his connection with Emmar MGF is bound to raise eyebrows.
Finmeccanica is an Italian industry primarily in the defense and aerospace.
The controversial real estate giant is still being probed by the CBI for alleged irregularities in the construction of the Games Village Complex in Delhi. Late Ved Prakash Gupta, the founder of Emmar MGF, was the maternal grandfather of Kanishka Singh. Kanishka’s father late SK Singh was the promoter of Emmar MGF, which was doled out controversial favour by the Delhi Development Authority after it bagged the contract for building the CWG Village.
According to the prospectus filed by Emmar MGF with SEBI, Haschke was Director in September 2009. But in December 2009, he resigned after the Games scandal exploded and Opposition leaders and former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari alleged that the Emmar MGF had been favoured due to its link with Kanishka Singh.
“Guido Ralph Haschke , and instead the prosecutor Chest Arstizio which investigates Indian Affairs of Agusta Westland, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica, has been able to track down almost all the files on your hard disk. And so the consultant with dual passports, has not been explained to investigators that his truth. INDIANA THE TRACK. Haschke is under investigation for corruption and international money laundering in the investigation into alleged bribes paid by Agusta Westland in securing a contract from 550 million euro by the Indian government. On 13 November, when questioned by the magistrates of Chest hold the file, Haschke has revealed that he had paid money in most circumstances the former commercial director of Finmeccanica, Paul Pozzessere , and other managers of the Group, for advice. But also provided other elements useful for investigations concerning the trend in India. TANGENT TO THE 51 MILLION. 550 million in the deal concluded with the Indian air force is investigating the hypothesis, Agusta Westland would pay 51 million euro of sovraffaturazioni . Money that, according to investigators, would be back in part to the availability of Haschke (20 million), and partly in the hands of Christian Michel, another mysterious consultant Finmeccanica, which would then shot some of the money, about 10 million euro, Giuseppe Orsi, CEO of Finmeccanica under investigation for corruption, to meet the demands of some political parties. MICHEL, “MAN OF BEARS.” By Michel spoke for the first time in November 2011, Lorenzo Borgogni, former head of external relations the group in Naples pm, indicating the mediator English as a “man of Bears.” “On the occasion of this transaction,” he said, referring to the Neapolitan pm Borgogni to order Indian, “was expected initial charge of € 40 million from correspond to two intermediaries, Guido Haschke and Christian Michel. ” Michel “was a man of Bears and that was what he had been appointed by Bears to return the money in the pockets of the same Bears.” But who is Christian Michel?
Michel’s family and the closeness to the Labour Party…
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