Delhi court rejects Christian Michel James’s plea seeking release in AgustaWestland case

New Delhi: A city court has rejected the plea of alleged middleman Christian Michel James seeking his release in the in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case on the ground that he had undergone the period of maximum sentence of seven years for the purported offences.

Special Judge Sanjay Jindal said that James’s plea that he is entitled to the benefit under section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which deals with the maximum period for which an under-trial prisoner can be detained, cannot be accepted.

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"The request of the accused Christian Michel James for his release under section 436 A CrPC stands declined," the court said.

The court said that besides the provisions of sections 415 (mischief) and 420 (cheating) read with 120 B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 8 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, which deals with the offence related to bribing a public servant, he is alleged to have committed offence under section 467 (forgery of valuable security, will etc.) of the IPC which is punishable up to life imprisonment. It also noted that various issues raised by James have already been considered by the Supreme Court, Delhi High Court and the present court.

"Considering the allegations under section 467 of the IPC which entails life imprisonment, it cannot be said that the accused (James) has already undergone the period of maximum punishment prescribed for the alleged offences," the court said and added that whether a case under the section 467 of IPC was made out against him would be decided at the stage of framing of charges and it cannot be said at this stage that the offence cannot be attributed to him.

British national James was extradited from Dubai in December, 2018 and was subsequently arrested in the alleged scam involving the purchase of VVIP helicopters worth 556.262 million euros. While the CBI has claimed in its chargesheet an estimated loss of 398.21 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer due to the deal for the supply of VVIP helicopters, the ED has alleged that he received 30 million euros (about Rs 225 crore) from AgustaWestland.

The Supreme Court granted James bail in the CBI case, noting that he was in custody in the CBI for the last six years and the investigation into the matter is still underway. The Delhi High Court granted him bail in the money laundering case registered by the ED case with conditions. He, however, has not furnished bail bonds and continues to remain in Tihar jail.