Christian Michel, the fugitive middleman in the AgustaWestland (AW) deal, had collected Six Million Euros (₹45 crores) from AgustaWestland chopper manufacturer Finmeccanica for managing the Indian media. The Finmeccanica and Michel’s company Global Services FZE of Dubai had entered into a post service contract after the controversial purchase of 12 VVIP choppers on March 1 2010. The contract is shown at the end of this page as a two-page appendix.



The agreement shows that from January 2010 onwards AgustaWestland (AW) the manufacturer, will pay €275,000 to Michel’s company for a period of 22 months. The total amount allotted is more than 6 million Euros, (€6,050,000 to be exact). It should be noted that the VVIP chopper deal was signed in 2009 and the media management contract started in 2010; for a period of 22 months Michel received 275,000 Euros per month for this covert PR exercise. Christian Michel would stay at The Claridges New Delhi, a place known for schmoozing with journalists and bureaucrats. During this period, no word was published in Indian media about this deal. Media started writing only in early 2013 after the Italian probe agencies arrested Finmeccanica Chief Orsi.



According to the agreement, for this deal, Michel’s company would:

Identify and inform the Company of any hostile press activities that may impact the execution of the Contract.

Advise and assist the Company in the development of risk mitigation strategies to minimise the impact of any hostile press activities.

Provide the company with routine feedback on press activity with respect to the performance of the Contract or any associated contributing activities.

This 6 million Euro allocation to manage media houses exposes the clout fugitive Christian Michel had on Indian media. Hindu’s April 27, 2016, edition has published the entire contents of a letter Christian Michel allegedly wrote to Prime Minister Modi and Congress leaders have taken this report as gospel truth and gone to the airwaves. This letter bears closer examination.