VVIP choppers deal: Interpol re-notifies RCN against Britisher

Interpol has re-notified a global Red Corner Notice against a British national, alleged to be a middlemen in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal, on charges of money laundering pressed against him by the ED.

New Delhi: Interpol has re-notified a global Red Corner Notice (RCN) against a British national, alleged to be a middlemen in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal, on charges of money laundering pressed against him by the ED.

The re-issued international warrant pertains to Christian Michel James, who has earlier been notified under the same category by the Interpol in the said case but on the request of the CBI, also probing the deal. 

The RCN against 54-year-old James has been re-notified recently, officials said, to include charges of money laundering under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on the request of the Enforcement Directorate(ED).

"The charges under PMLA were not included earlier in the Interpol RCN notified against James. These charges have been inserted and the notice re-notified. Indian authorities require him for prosecution in the case," they said. 

The CBI has sought his arrest for "criminal conspiracy, cheating, illegal gratification and abuse of official position."

An RCN, according to Interpol, is issued "to seek the location and arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition or similar lawful action" in a criminal case probe.

With this re-notification of the global warrant, both CBI and ED have now got RCNs issued against three alleged middlemen wanted in this case-- Italians Carlo Gerosa and Guido Ralph Haschke and James-- after a special court here had issued non-bailable warrants (NBWs) against them on their separate pleas late last year.

In ED's case, the court's order came as it sought issuance of an 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 while Gerosa and Haschke had allegedly cornered the rest.

The agency had claimed that "investigations revealed that kick backs received by 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."