VVIP chopper deal: Open NBW issued against accused UK national

A Delhi court on Friday issued an open non-bailable warrant (NBW) against British national Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman in the Rs 3,600 crore VVIP chopper deal case, after Enforcement Directorate said that his questioning was needed to ascertain key aspects of the matter.

“In view of the above submissions open-ended non-bailable warrant be issued against the accused Christian Michel James,” the Special CBI Judge Ajay Kumar Jain said. The court’s order came on a plea filed by the ED seeking issuance of open NBW against James, who is presently in Dubai, claiming that Agusta Westland had allegedly paid a “kickback” of around 70 million Euro out of which around 30 million Euros was paid to James and his firm Global Services FZE, Dubai.

The agency claimed, “the investigations revealed that kick backs received by Christian Michel James in his company M/s Global Services, FZE, Dubai in the guise of two agreements from M/s Agusta Westland, were nothing other than that of the kickback which is thus a proceeds of crime.”  ED’s prosecutor N K Matta told court that sustained custodial examination of James was essential for furtherance of probe.