A High Court in India has granted bail to Christian Michel, a British national accused in a high-profile money laundering case, citing prolonged incarceration without trial.
Mr Michel, who has been in custody for over six years after being accused of paying bribes to Indian officials to win a helicopter deal for Anglo-Italian firm AgustaWestland, was granted bail on Tuesday in the case pursued by India’s anti-financial crimes agency Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The decision follows a similar ruling by the Supreme Court, which granted him bail earlier last month in a parallel investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of Delhi High Court, while delivering the ruling, described Mr Michel’s continued detention as an “exceptional situation” and a violation of his fundamental right to a speedy trial under the Indian constitution. Despite spending more than six years behind bars, his trial has not yet commenced due to an incomplete investigation, the court noted.
“He is happy that he has secured bail after serving six years and two months in jail without trial,” his lawyer Aljo K Joseph told The Independent. “At least some justice has been delivered.”
Mr Michel’s release is contingent upon meeting bail conditions, including a bond and surety of Rs500,000 (£4,500) each and surrendering his passport to the trial court. The ED has been directed to request the trial court to impose additional conditions as deemed necessary before his release.
The British national was extradited from Dubai in December 2018 and subsequently arrested by Indian authorities.
He is accused of acting as a middleman in a now-scrapped controversial deal involving the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from Italian manufacturer AgustaWestland. Investigators allege that bribes were paid to Indian officials to secure the contract, with Michel reportedly receiving €30m (£2.01m) in commissions.
The ED has opposed Mr Michel’s bail, arguing that he remains a flight risk and does not meet the stringent criteria under India’s anti-money laundering laws. However, his legal team contended that his detention had already exceeded six years – close to the maximum seven-year sentence prescribed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) – even before trial proceedings had begun.
Justice Sharma, in her ruling, acknowledged that while the PMLA sets a high threshold for bail, the provision could not be interpreted in a way that indefinitely confines an accused without trial.
“The applicant has been in custody for over six years and two months – alarmingly close to the maximum punishment – without being adjudicated guilty,” the court observed. “Given that the trial is unlikely to conclude before the applicant completes even seven years in jail, further incarceration would render the entire purpose of a trial meaningless.”
The bail order also highlighted the extensive nature of the case, noting that the prosecution has listed over 100 witnesses and relied on nearly 1,000 documents. Given the complexity of the trial, the court stated that there was no reasonable likelihood of its conclusion in the near future.
Mr Michel’s lawyers – advocates Aljo K Joseph, Vishnu Shankar, and Sriram P – argued that his prolonged detention amounted to “pre-trial punishment”. They also pointed out that he had spent two months in custody in the UAE before his extradition to India.
On the other hand, the ED, represented by counsel Zoheb Hossain, alleged that Mr Michel had previously evaded investigation and ignored court warrants before being brought to India. The agency further argued that granting him bail could hinder ongoing probes into the corruption scandal.
The case against Michel stems from a 2013 investigation into irregularities in the helicopter deal, which was signed in 2010 between India’s Defence Ministry and AgustaWestland, a subsidiary of the Italian defence conglomerate Finmeccanica. The contract, worth €556.262m (£322.4m), was later scrapped following corruption allegations. Indian authorities estimate that the deal caused a loss of around €398.21m (£232m) to the exchequer.
Mr Michel is one of three alleged middlemen implicated in the case, alongside Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa. The CBI’s chargesheet accuses him of facilitating illicit payments to Indian officials to secure the contract, while the ED’s case focuses on laundering the proceeds of the alleged crime.
The Supreme Court, in its 18 February ruling granting Mr Michel bail in the CBI case, criticised the prolonged nature of the investigation, noting that “despite three charge sheets and two supplementary charge sheets, the investigation is still ongoing”. The court further remarked, “You will not be able to conclude the trial in another 25 years going by what your conduct has been.”
