VVIP choppers PMLA case: Enforcement Directorate seeks extradition of Britisher

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sought extradition of a British national, alleged to be a middleman in the Rs 3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal, on charges of money laundering.

Officials said the agency has moved an official request in this regard to the Union Home Ministry with the copy of a court-issued non-bailable warrant and a recently notified Interpol Red Corner Notice (RCN) against the said middleman-- Christian Michel James.

The extradition request, it is understood, has been sent after the ED ascertained James movements in either one of the constituents of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or a European country and it suspects he may leave the said country before Interpol reaches him.

The agency has earlier told a Delhi court that James was present in Dubai.

"The Ministry of Home Affairs is looking into the request," a senior official said without elaborating further.

Sometime back, both the ED and CBI had got an Interpol warrant issued against 54-year-old James in this case.

While the CBI has sought his arrest for "criminal conspiracy, cheating, illegal gratification and abuse of official position", the ED wants him for charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Both the agencies have also got RCNs issued against two other alleged middlemen wanted in this case-- Italians Carlo Gerosa and Guido Ralph Haschke-- after a special court here had issued non-bailable warrants against them on their separate pleas late last year.

The ED had claimed 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 kickbacks 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."