New Delhi: A day after a court in Dubai reportedly “ordered the extradition of British national and alleged middleman Christian Michel” in a ₹3,600 crore AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, senior central government officials said that no official communication has been received yet by India.
“In August, a query was posed before the Dubai court asking if a foreign national could be extradited to India, to which the court had said it was possible. We have now asked our embassy in the United Arab Emirates to find out the facts about this,” said one of the officials, on condition of anonymity.
At the same time, officials in the ministry of external affairs and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said they have not received any order or official communication pertaining to Michel.
“CBI has not received any official communication on the matter or whether Michel is actually absconding or not,” said a person familiar with the developments, on reports of Michel going missing before his extradition.
A Dubai court pronounced the judgement late Tuesday, on an official request made by India to the emirate earlier, based on criminal investigations conducted by the CBI and the enforcement directorate (ED).
The full contents of the order are expected to be known soon as the legal pronouncement is in Arabic and is being translated in English at the behest of Indian authorities, the officials said.
The ED, in its charge sheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received €30 million (about ₹225 crore) from AgustaWestland as kickbacks.
Michel is one of the three main accused middlemen in the case, along with Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. All three are being probed by the CBI and ED. Michel was arrested in February 2017 by UAE authorities after CBI reportedly sent an extradition request.