india

Updated: Apr 12, 2019 08:26 IST

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday submitted a status report in a Delhi court on the alleged leak of a supplementary charge sheet filed in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam.

The central agency also submitted in a sealed cover a pen drive containing a video of the person who allegedly leaked the charge sheet to media.

“It contains video footage and also discloses the source (of leak),” special public prosecutor for ED, DP Singh told the court of special judge Arvind Kumar.

The report was submitted in response to an application filed by Christian Michel, alleged middleman arrested in the case, seeking a “free and fair trial”.

The application filed on April 5 had also alleged that the ED “clandestinely” leaked the charge sheet to media before the court could take cognisance of it, to “sensationalise the issue”.

The court had, during last hearing, sought response of the agency on the application.

The agency has contended that Michel’s plea is not maintainable. In its supplementary charge sheet filed last week, it alleged that Michel admitted to paying kickbacks to the politicians, civil servants and defence officials to secure the deal. The central agency has claimed, it has established the money trail of 70-million euro bribes, which were paid over the years using a circuitous route and shell companies, to swing the deal in favour of Anglo-Italian firm, AgustaWestland.

Michel was arrested by the ED on December 22 last year after his extradition from Dubai. He is among the three alleged middlemen being probed by ED and CBI in the case. The others are Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.

The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he had received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.

The CBI, in its charge sheet, has alleged an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros to the exchequer in the deal that was signed on February 8, 2010 for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.