NEW DELHI: Christian Michel James, one of the alleged middlemen in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case who was granted bail by Delhi high court earlier this week, appeared before a city court on Friday and submitted that he could not accept it and wanted to go back to custody as Delhi was unsafe for him.
Saying that because of “security risks”, he would rather finish his sentence and leave India instead of being released on bail, he submitted before the court of special judge Sanjeev Aggarwal, “I can’t accept the bail. It’s unsafe. Every time I step out of Tihar, something happens. The problem I am having is with police. I’d rather talk to you in private.”
When the judge asked about his well-being, James said Delhi was just a larger prison for him. He mentioned something happened in AIIMS that he would rather talk to the court about in private.
Can’t you find a safe house in Delhi, judge asks Agusta accused
Christian Michel James was extradited from the UAE in 2018 in Rs 3600-crore money laundering case registered by ED. Later in the day, the court imposed the necessary bail conditions for releasing him. After James asked the court to talk in private, the judge sent the mediapersons and police outside the courtroom.
Earlier this week, while granting him bail, HC said it was an exceptional situation where the accused was in custody for over 6.2 years but the trial had not yet commenced due to incomplete investigation. On Feb 18, Supreme Court had granted him bail in a related CBI case subject to terms and conditions decided by the trial court. In both cases, the court directed James to furnish a personal bond and surety of Rs 5 lakh each, at which James said, “How can a person who has been in jail for six years produce local sureties?”
When James said that he did not want to be released on bail, the judge said, “Can’t you find a safehouse in Delhi?” James was extradited from Dubai in Dec 2018 and was subsequently arrested by CBI and ED. James is among the three alleged middlemen being probed and the other two are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. CBI, in its chargesheet, claimed an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer due to the deal that was signed on Feb 8, 2010, for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros. The ED chargesheet filed against James in June 2016 alleged he received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.
