Is this a political masterstroke or a stroke of coincidence? The extradition of Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal is a huge legal and diplomatic achievement for the Narendra Modi government. However, the timing of the extradition comes less than three days before Rajasthan and Telangana polls on December 7, giving it a complete political spin. The BJP which was pushed to the wall on the Rafale deal gets new ammunition to fight the Congress fire. The political cross-fire was on display with Modi going to town taking jibes at Sonia and Rahul Gandhi as campaigning ended on Wednesday evening.
The Enforcement Directorate has accused Michel of receiving approximately Rs 225 crore from AgustaWestland as kickbacks. Michel is one of the three alleged middlemen being examined in the case, along with Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. The AgustaWestland case involves the deal to purchase 12 luxury helicopters for use by the President, Prime Minister, former prime ministers and other VIPs, when Manmohan Singh’s Congress-led coalition was in power. A contract which was subsequently scrapped in 2014 amid bribery charges.
The expediency of this move could well be understood from the fact that Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj flew in to UAE and held discussions with her counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi. The government must get the credit for the swiftness with which the entire process was handled since it officially made its request to the UAE in March 2017. And the Modi government pulled it off just in time, showcasing its fight against corruption to gain a distinct political advantage. If several earlier promises of Modi had fallen flat, more especially the one where he promised to get back black money stashed in Swiss banks, the Michel extradition will give PM the vivacity to go after other economic offenders like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi.
On the flip side, the extradition is just the beginning of a long-drawn process. It must be borne in mind that in January 2018, an Italian court gave a clean chit to the two main accused in the main AgustaWestland bribery scandal. Modi’s talk of big names spilling out is only hypothetical and appears to be a smear campaign at this stage. Politicos cannot sit in judgement in a case which is spread across nations. It’s too early to go chest-thumping claiming victory on nailing corruption. Interestingly, Michel had told Dubai prosecution authorities in July that he is being pressured by Indian agencies to frame Sonia Gandhi in return for amnesty from criminal proceedings.
Let the law take its own course. The AgustaWestland kickback case should be probed in all fairness and without any political interference or bias. If Congress has Rafale fighter jets as poll ammunition, the BJP will use Michel extradition in a high-pitched political battlefield.
