AgustaWestland Row: Govt Forced Middleman to Name Sonia, Says Cong

Citing Michael’s lawyer, Congress said that the middleman was forced to sign a confession naming Sonia Gandhi.

Congress alleged that the Modi government is forcing middlemen to name Sonia Gandhi.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) filed a fresh chargesheet in a Delhi court in the AgustaWestland scam, the Congress launched a scathing attack on the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) alleging that the Modi government was forcing Christian Michael, the alleged middleman in the scandal, to name Sonia Gandhi in the case.

Citing Michael’s lawyer Rosemary Patrizi, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala on Thursday, 19 July said that Michael was forced to sign a confession by the Modi government naming Sonia Gandhi.

Two days ago, Christian Michael was arrested in Dubai for AgustaWestland case. Now, his advocate Rosemary Patrizi clearly states that Modi govt and its agencies were forcing Christian Michael to sign false confession naming Sonia Gandhi ji.

Randeep Surjewala

In a conversation with India Today, Patrizi alleged a conspiracy against Michael.

“This year, they (investigators) went to Dubai to interview him. What they wanted really was a signature. They wanted that he corroborated telling (saying) things that were not true. He said no, I am not going to sign. After that the people went back to India and he was arrested,” Patrizi told the news channel/

Surjewala added that never in the history has any prime minister gathered “false evidence” to frame an Opposition leader, NDTV reported.

The Congress also issued a statement calling the alleged acts of the Centre a ‘concentrated conspiracy’ and blind vendetta.

The statement issued by Congress(Photo: Twitter/@rssurjewala)

The supplementary charge sheet filed on Wednesday accused 34 Indian and foreign individuals and companies, including SP Tyagi, Italian middlemen Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, lawyer Gautam Khaitan and Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland, of laundering money to the tune of around 28 million Euro.

The probe report also claimed that the kickbacks were paid by AgustaWestland through two different channels.

"One channel was handled by middleman Christian Michel James and the other channel was handled by Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke. Gerosa and Haschke in collusion with Tyagi Brothers, cousins of S P Tyagi, conspired with Gautam Khaitan of M/s OP Khaitan & Co, Auditors and Solicitors based at New Delhi," the charge sheet said.

Special judge Arvind Kumar put up the charge sheet, filed through special public prosecutor N K Matta under sections 3 and 4 of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), for consideration and further action on 20 July.

(With inputs from ANI, PTI , NDTV and India Today)