New Delhi: The Delhi High Court Tuesday granted bail to British national Christian James Michel, accused in the “chopper scam”, stating that his further custody would leave the trial process meaningless as he has been in jail for over six years and two months for an offence which has a maximum punishment of seven years.
Tuesday’s bail order was given in the money laundering case linked to alleged irregularities in the deal to procure 12 VVIP choppers from AgustaWestland.
A single-judge bench of Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma also observed the “exceptional” nature of the case, with Michel having spent over six years in jail and trial procedures not having started because of the “incomplete” investigation.
Notably, the Supreme Court had on 18 February granted Michel bail in the primary case being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on similar grounds of prolonged incarceration and the case not even reaching the stage of commencement of trial.
The money laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) stems from a case filed by the CBI in March 2013 at the request of the Ministry of Defence, booking several senior defence ministry officials and firms, including AgustaWestland.
In the Delhi HC, Michel’s counsel, Aljo K. Joseph, argued that Michel had nearly served the maximum sentence prescribed under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) provisions even before the commencement of trial.
He flagged that Michel had undergone six years and two months of incarceration in addition to two months’ custody in the UAE before his extradition to India in December 2018. Hence, his further custody would amount to pre-trial punishment.
Joseph further argued that investigation in both cases—predicate offence being probed by the CBI and money laundering case investigated by the ED—had been continuing for several years and were unlikely to conclude in the near future.
On the other hand, ED counsel Zoheb Hossain, countering the bail plea, argued that Michel was a flight risk and had evaded investigation and refused court warrants before his extradition to India in 2018.
Noting the arguments made by both counsels, Justice Sharma observed that the case presented an “exceptional situation” in which an accused has already served time behind bars for over six years and two months without even commencement of trial.
“The case presents an exceptional situation where the applicant has already been in custody for over six years and two months, yet the trial has not even commenced due to the incomplete investigation. Such prolonged incarceration, without any foreseeable conclusion of trial, would infringe upon the applicant’s fundamental right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution,” the court observed Tuesday.
“For an offence under Section 4 of the PMLA, where the maximum punishment is seven years, the threshold for Section 436A of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure) would be three-and-a-half years… the applicant has been in custody for over six years and two months–which is alarmingly close to the maximum punishment–without even being adjudicated guilty,” the judge noted.
“It was pointed out that more than 100 witnesses are to be examined in the present case and there are more than 1000 documents relied upon by the prosecution. Given that the trial is unlikely to conclude before the applicant completes even seven years in jail, further incarceration would render the entire purpose of trial meaningless,” the judge further observed, while granting bail.
The chopper case first began in 2011 when Italian authorities initiated a probe into disclosures made by the then head of external relations of Finmeccanica, the holding company of AgustaWestland International, concerning payment of bribes through middlemen. Michel is alleged to be one of the middlemen in the chopper deal.
As revelations unfolded overseas, the Indian Ministry of Defence approached the CBI in February 2013 and requested a probe into the allegations of the payment of bribes.
The CBI had taken Michel into custody in December 2018 after his extradition to India from Dubai. Later, the ED also took him into custody and filed a prosecution complaint against him.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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