Agusta Westland case: CBI to file fresh charges

New Delhi: The CBI, investigating the muti-crore Agusta Westland deal case, is likely to file a fresh supplementary chargesheet on the basis of revelations made by accused-turned-approver Rajiv Saxena.

“The Central probe agency recently quizzed Saxena in connection with certain Dubai-based companies which were used to allegedly park and launder the bribe money,” sources said, adding that the agency may soon file a fresh supplementary chargesheet in the case. Saxena, the middleman who was deported from Dubai recently, is not an accused in CBI’s case, but he is a prime accused in the case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate. It is also learnt that the CBI also examined Saxena about alleged middleman Christian Michel and other people involved in routing the bribe money.

Saxena, who is on bail due to his medical condition, was allowed by the CBI special court to turn approver in the AgustaWestland case. Saxena, who was arrested in the multi-crore AgustaWestland deal case, had sought to become an approver in his statement recorded during court proceedings.

Sources said he has revealed some big names who received bribe money in the acquisition of AgustaWestland choppers for VVIPs in his statement before the magistrate.

Saxena, a Dubai-based businessman was deported from Dubai on January 31 this year. This was the second high-profile arrest in the case after Christian Michel, a British arms dealer and middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, was arrested in the UAE and then extradited to India in December 2018. Recently, the ED attached property worth Rs 5.83 crore in Paris, which reportedly belong to alleged middleman Christian Michel’s associates. 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.