Agusta-accused Christian Michel James seeks bail, SC wants ED & CBI reply

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked CBI and Enforcement Directorate to respond to the bail plea of AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter purchase scam accused Christian Michel James, who was extradited to India from Dubai in December 2018.
Michel’s counsel told a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Surya Kant and P S Narasimha that his client has been in jail for three and half years, which is more than half of the sentence that would be awarded to him if he was found guilty for the offence he is accusedof.
He said applying the principle for grant of bail normally adopted by the apex court — undertrial spending more than half of the possible sentence on conviction — Michel should be allowed to be released from incarceration on bail. The bench termed this as a valid argument and asked additional solicitor general S V Raju to submit the responses of CBI and ED.