'Target' closest advisers of Sonia Gandhi for VVIP chopper deal, key middleman told AgustaWestland
Written by Manu Pubby | New Delhi | February 01, 2014 03:08
March 2008 note by middleman Christian Michel produced by Italian prosecutorsSUMMARY
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In a note that Italian prosecutors have produced in court to allege the vital role played by middleman Christian Michel in fixing the VVIP chopper deal, the British 'consultant' has told top AgustaWestland officials to 'target' the closest advisers for UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for the contract.
The March 2008 note, which has been sent by the elusive Christian Michel to Peter Hulett, the then Head of Region, Govt Sales at the AgustaWestland India office, is one of the many documents that Italian investigators seized from the office of Switzerland based middleman Guido Haschke who is currently facing trial in the case of alleged 51 million euro kickbacks generated in the Indian VVIP chopper deal.
India has in January terminated the deal on the grounds that the integrity pact was violated and that unfair practices were adopted to bag the deal by Agusta. The Defence Ministry is currently engaged in an arbitration process on the contract that was inked in 2010. The March 15, 2008 note that has been produced in Italian court is addressed to Peter and instructs him to advise the British High Commissioner in India (AgustaWestland is an Anglo-Italian firm) to 'target' people close to Sonia Gandhi.
"As Mrs Gandhi is the driving force behind the VIP, she will not fly any more in the Mi 8. Mrs Gandhi and her closest advisers are the people the High Commissioner should target," the note reads. Mi 8′s are the current VIP role choppers flown by the air force. The document has been produced by prosecutors as part of their questioning of Guido Haschke. In January, as reported by The Indian Express, they also asked Haschke in court if the reference to an abbreviation of AP in a 'budget sheet' of the middlemen referred to Gandhi's key aide Ahmed Patel. Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano has also reported that the prosecutors produced a photograph of Sonia Gandhi and Ahmed Patel during the hearing to question Haschke but the middlemen said that he only recognised Gandhi from the picture.
The document has also been shared by Italian investigators with an Indian CBI team that had gone to Milan for the hearings in the case.The note, a copy of which is with The Indian Express, also goes on to list the seven advisers that Michel feels should be 'targeted' by the British High Commissioner. The names listed are Manmohan Singh, Ahmed Patel, Pranab Mukherjee, Veerappa Moily, Oscar Fernandes, M K Narayanan and Vinay Singh.
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