The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday moved an application in a local court seeking an open-ended non-bailable warrant against Christian Michel James, one of the accused and a major beneficiary of the AgustaWestland chopper scam. The CBI, through the court, has also requested the competent authorities in Mauritius for assistance in investigation and collection of documents.
Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Jain hearing the case has posted the matter for September 23 for considering the application. The probe agency has also moved one application for request to issue letter rogatory and letter of request to the competent authority in Mauritius.
Prior to this, the CBI on March 13, 2013 had also registered a first information report (FIR) against former Air Force chief SP Tyagi and others in the VVIP chopper deal case.
Christian Michel, one of the accused along with SP Tyagi, Giuseppe Orsi, former CEO of Italian Defence major Finmeccanica, Bruno Spagnolini, CEO of AgustaWestland, a Britain-based subsidiary of Finmeccanica, and others, was the illegal beneficiary of the AgustaWestland deal which was finalised between Indian Government and was made for the purchase of 12 AgustaWestland AW101helicopters. Former Indian Air Force (IAF) chief SP Tyagi, his three cousins and five other Indians have been named in its FIR in the alleged kickbacks received by them in Rs3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal.