New Delhi: The Congress party is giving cover fire to Christian Michel, alleged middleman in VVIP AgustaWestland chopper scam, and is defending him, said BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi on Sunday.
“There is a kind of restlessness and anxiety in the Congress camp after the extradition of Christian Michel. Things are pointing towards the involvement of the Gandhi family in it,” said Trivedi, while talking to the reporters here.
“In the last 30-32 years whenever the name of any foreign national crops up in corruption in India, whether it be Anderson, Ottavio Quattrocchi, Guido Haschke or Christian Michel, why all are found to be related to the Gandhi family only,” asked Trivedi.
The BJP on Saturday asserted that alleged middleman in VVIP chopper scam, Christian Michel’s revelation about the ‘son of Italian lady’, ‘big man’ and ‘R’ to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), pointed towards the Gandhi family.
The Delhi court has sent Michel to a seven-day ED remand on Saturday. The decision came following ED’s demand to probe further about the ‘big man’ referred to as ‘R.’
The BJP spokesperson said the Congress party is doing press-conferences on the issue to protect the accused Christian Michel as the Gandhi family is also involved in corruption.
The AgustaWestland helicopter deal, finalised during the previous government headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, got mired in the allegations of kickbacks.
According to the ED charge sheet, Michel had received kickbacks to the tune of 30 million Euros from AgustaWestland for the deal involving the purchase of 12 VIP helicopters. The deal, signed in 2007, was scrapped in 2013 following the bribery allegation.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]