Christian Michel, AgustaWestland middleman, to be extradited

NEW DELHI: Christian Michel, the British middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper scandal, will be extradited, a court in Dubai ruled on Monday. Michel was arrested in the UAE last year and is facing extradition proceedings in that country.

The AgustaWestland case involves a 2007 contract signed by the government for the purchase of 12 luxury helicopters for use by top leaders, including the President, Prime Minister and former prime ministers.

In 2013, the government scrapped the contract amid allegations that the supplier AgustaWestland, whose parent company Finmeccanica ran into allegations of bribe-giving in Italy, had paid kickbacks in India.

Former Air Chief SP Tyagi, 72, was arrested in 2016 over allegations that he accepted bribes to tailor specifications at the instance of his cousins. He became the first ever military chief - former or current - to be arrested.