New Delhi: A reference to “Mrs Gandhi” in the court in the AgustaWestland case has changed the goalposts ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. It was during the appearance of middleman Christian Michel at New Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Saturday that the Mrs Gandhi reference came up. This has given fresh ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party to take on the Congress, which has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the Rafale deal.
Allegedly, Christian Michel, the middleman for the deal, has named Mrs Gandhi (being read as Sonia Gandhi by the BJP) during his custodial interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate, which is probing alleged corruption by politicians and bureaucrats in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal.
The reference to an Italian lady, whose son was soon to become the Prime Minister, also came up in the court; and that people in the UPA regime were keen to transfer the helicopter deal to the Tatas, rather than to the state-owned HAL. This development will put Congress on the back foot as it has been accusing the government of favouring Anil Ambani over HAL in the Rafale deal.
The Sunday Guardian has unearthed notes dated 08.05.2011, which the Enforcement Directorate suspects are associated with the Gandhi family and which the agency is likely to produce as evidence in court. These notes were seized by the Swiss authorities and were taken into custody by the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI and the ED during their probe.
The notes mention a certain deal between middlemen Guido Haschke and Christian Michel. As per the notes they are willing to sacrifice their share of money in favour of a certain “family”. So far there is nothing to implicate the family associated with the grand old party.
However these notes, a draft and then a final note, mention that after extensive discussions it had come to light that there were two agreements in place with AgustaWestland. That’s why there was some misunderstanding. One agreement was for 40 million euros with the team, and the other for 28 million euros with the “family”.
The note says the “family” wanted their agreement honoured; but as the 28 million euros had only just come to light it was unworkable at this late stage to take the 28 million euros from the 42 million, as implied. “We have agreed that 12 million Euros can be taken from the 42 million Euros and counted against the family’s expected 28 million Euros. It has been agreed that the team shall take out the money to accommodate ‘family’.” This note seems to be an understanding between Guido Haschke and Christian Michel, the two middlemen who travelled to India at the time of the deal.
The Sunday Guardian has also learned that Christian Michel had also received money from Westland Helicopters for another deal regarding the Indian Navy’s Seaking Helicopter Recovery Plan. The original deal was about supplying VVIP helicopters for Prime Minister’s visits.
This newspaper is also in possession of ED documents that suggest that Christian Michel had received 6.16 million pounds and 7.87 million pounds in two tranches in his Lyods Bank A/C number 60601358922303. This money was in return for his providing services to Indian Navy and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd on behalf of Westland Helicopters Ltd.
The ED probe later revealed that a contract between government and Westland Helicopters was executed on 10.07.2006 for recovery of Seaking Helicopters on the basis of carriage and insurance paid.
An integrity pact was also signed in respect of the contract in which the bidder had committed to take all necessary measures to prevent corrupt practices, unfair means and illegal activities.
Eventually, during the ED probe it was found that Michel’s company Global Services Dubai did not do any work on behalf of Westland Helicopters relating to the recovery project, nor was it brought to the notice of Ministry of Defence/Indian Air Force that any such consultant had been appointed by Westland Helicopters. Therefore, Global Services Dubai was appointed as consultant by Westland Helicopters Ltd is utter violation of the integrity pact. This also creates a mystery about where the money received by Michel for this deal go.
Meanwhile another 2009 controversial letter written by Christian Michel to AgustaWestland executive Giuseppe Orsi has surfaced. In this letter, Michel had mentioned about the efforts he made in the Indian government to ensure that the company got the contract to supply the helicopters. It also mentions that Hillary Clinton had discouraged the government from buying AgustaWestland helicopters.
While senior ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad and Prakash Javadekar asked the Congress to come clean in the case, defending the Gandhi family, Congress leader R.P.N. Singh said BJP didn’t have any issue to go to the Lok Sabha elections and that’s why the government through its agency ED was trying to implicate the Gandhis in a false case.
Scams surrounding defence deals tend to stick to people’s mind. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, these allegations may make things difficult for the Congress, which was going hammer and tongs against the Government on alleged favouritism in the Rafale fighter aircraft deal.
WE HAVE PRESSURISED THE PM THROUGH HIS PARTY ELITE: MICHEL’S LETTER TO ORSI
August 28, 2009
Attn. Mr Orsi
Sir, we understand full the pressure A.W is under to conclude. We are now at the finish. I told you and the Air attache in London has confirmed to your company that at the next CCS meeting your project will be cleared. The CCS meeting is scheduled for next Thursday, the 3rd October.
Within three working days of that meeting you will be given a date to come and finalise.
When we last spoke you asked which year we would sign and I fully understood your frustration as I had stated that it would be concluded in July. I can now explain what went wrong.
On the 19th of July to the 23rd Hillary Clinton visited India. She had a number of meetings with the Prime Minister. At one of these meetings she raised a point that was not in the agenda. (Why is India buying the 101. The US has cancelled it because it is extravagant. How can India do it?)
The PM, for an unknown reason desperate to keep good US relations as his legacy and therefore promised to look into the matter. Then, we came along and push through a CCS meeting on the 30th of July and the Prime Minister is stuck. Six days earlier he promised Hillary that he will look into the 101 matter and now he is supposed to clear it at the Cabinet. The PM was in danger of losing his reputation.
Also, the note that was put up for the Cabinet was not as strong as it should have been. The bureaucrats could not see any problems in the CCS note.
This was due to the arrogance of the JS and the then Defence Secretary. Both men thought that no one would question their word. What happened next was for me a nightmare.
We had fixed the CCS for 30th July. We and the team (user, bureaucrat and key political elements) expected it to clear without a problem, at the meeting the PM suddenly states that this is okay but first can all the ministers present who may have questions, please raise them to the Defence Ministry and they will be answered before the file comes back to the CCS again.
This statement threw us to the wolves. Every minister, every lobby group, Russian/American/French had questions. The Finance Minister saw his chance to flex his muscles and take on the defence minister where there is a power struggle.
However, the PM could tell the US ambassador that the file was not cleared on the 30th and the Ambassador could tell Hillary that he is looking into the matter.
The first week of August all the questions started coming in from the many ministers present. Our project was on the edge of a cliff.
We have spent the whole of August regrouping, realigning and preparing our strategy for resubmission to the CCS.
Our CCS note is huge. The new Defence Secretary has got a brain. The J.S has learnt his lesson. The National Security Advisor saw the PM at 4 yesterday.
We have pressurised the PM through his party elite.
The Defence Minister is 100 percent behind us. On 24th August, the final CCS note was presented to the Defence Minister. It is an excellent note.
It was circulated to the Council of Ministers who have agreed to clear it at the next CCS and the PM has demonstrated to Hillary that he did intervene but role of the government let it go through.
Regards
Christian