Extradited Saxena, Talwar Sent to ED Remand in AgustaWestland Chopper Case

New Delhi [India], Jan 31 (ANI):Rajiv Saxena, an accused in the multi-crore AgustaWestland chopper deal scam, was on Thursday sent to four-day custody of the Enforcement Directorate, hours after being extradited from the UAE.Lobbyist Deepak Talwar, who also was brought along with Saxena from Dubai, was remanded to 7-day custody.Saxena and Talwar were brought by a special plane from Dubai early this morning.India on Wednesday secured the extradition of Saxena and Talwar from UAE, which came as a major achievement for the investigating agencies after the extradition of Christian Michel, alleged middleman in the Rs 3600 crore deal, two months back. Saxena and Talwar were detained in Dubai by the UAE authorities on Wednesday morning following an extradition request by the Indian government, sources said.They were kept in a house in Dubai by the local authorities on the request of Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).ED sources said the External Affairs Ministry was in constant touch with the UAE government for extradition and involved close coordination between the agencies of the two countries."They were arrested when all the preparations were made by the Indian side,” a source said.According to a government dossier, Saxena was allegedly operating a number of bank accounts in Switzerland in which huge amounts of money were deposited.The banks in which the amounts were allegedly deposited, include Union Bancaire Privee UBP in Zurich, UBS Switzerland, and Credit Suiss AG, says the dossier accessed by the ANI.’  The remittances into these accounts came allegedly from Matrix Group Ltd, UHY Saxena and Associates, Tiramisu Holdings Inc and Tanay Holdings Ltd, the document claimed. Regarding the role of Deepak Talwar, the government agencies allege that he had “facilitated dispersal of profit-making routes of India’s state-carrier Air India to private airlines, using his connections with the then Civil Aviation Minister.” The sources claimed that this has been “corroborated” by payments by private airlines which benefitted from “such illegalities”. The beneficiaries were Qatar Airways, Emirates and Air Arabia, the sources alleged, adding Talwar “received kick backs of Rs 212 crore” in the accounts in the Bank of Singapore in the name of the company and controlled by him.Saxena’s lawyer alleged that her client was “not extradited but abducted” from Dubai.Shivani Luthra Lohiya said her client Saxena is an NRI and resident of the UAE for the last 25 years.She said Saxena was picked up by the UAE authorities from his residence at 9:30 am on Wednesday (local time) and “illegally deported” to India around 5:30 pm (local time).Lohiya said no extradition proceedings were carried out in the UAE and Saxena was not allowed access to his family or lawyers."He (Saxena) is suffering from Leukaemia, diabetes and has previously had stents in his heart. He was taken on a private jet from a private terminal at Dubai International Airport," she said.Lohiya said when they raised questions, they were asked to speak to the UAE authorities.The lawyer said she was told that Saxena is on the flight which cannot be stopped."This illegal deportation is unprecedented and even Christian Michel went through the legal process before he was extradited,” Lohiya said.On October 6 last year, a court here had issued a non-bailable warrant (NBW) against Saxena after the ED informed the court that he was not joining the investigation even after repeated summons.Saxena’s name figured in a charge sheet filed against his wife Shivani, currently out on bail after being arrested by the ED.In December, the ED while responding to Saxena’s bail plea, had informed the court about the request for his extradition made to UAE as he had failed to join the investigation even after repeated summons.On December 5 last year, the UAE government extradited Michel, a British national, to India in connection with the probe into the VVIP chopper scam.The role of Michel has also been suspected in other deals as well, the ED has told a Delhi court, which sent him to judicial custody till February 26.The AgustaWestland helicopter deal was signed in 2007, during the UPA government headed by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The deal was scrapped in 2013 after the bribery allegations surfaced.According to ED charge sheet, Michel had received kickbacks to the tune of 30 million Euros from AgustaWestland for the deal involving the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters. (ANI)

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