Several “service contracts” signed between British middleman Christian Michel and his main client AgustaWestland were “sham contracts” to camouflage alleged kickbacks from the Rs 3,600-crore helicopter deal in India, according to documents submitted in court by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
In its prosecution complaint, the agency said that these were meant to “create a legal facade and to route the kickbacks” under these agreements. And “create a smokescreen” between these contracts and the chopper purchase making it hard to track the payoff trail.
Michel’s interrogation report, accessed by The Indian Express, details his version of these deals, and his turbulent career graph in India — from his father Wolfgang Michel’s support to start in 1985 to how he nearly shut shop after the Pokhran tests of 1998;
