NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a plea of AgustaWestland scam accused and British national Christian Michel James for doing away with one of the bail conditions of providing a local address where he would stay after coming out of jail.
The court told him that if he could not find a local address, then he had better remain in Tihar jail . Appearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Kumar, Christian's lawyer submitted that he had been in jail for more than six years and he did not know anyone who would arrange a home for him to stay.
He said his client had to search for a house himself, which he could only do after coming out of jail. The bench, however, asked him why his family members could not help him to ensure that bail conditions were fulfilled. He replied that he got divorced while he was in custody, and none of his family members are in the country to help him.
The bench said that it could not do away with the condition as it would be difficult for authorities to track him. It said that family members of the accused could help him out, and he had to provide a local address to get bail. "You have a permanent address in Tihar Jail. You stay there. What else can be done?" the bench said and dismissed his plea. Delhi HC on March 4 granted bail to Christian in the money laundering case relating to the purchase of VVIP choppers from Italian firm AgustaWestland.
He was earlier granted bail by the apex court in a corruption case related to the deal. He was extradited from Dubai in 2018. CBI, in its chargesheet, claimed an estimated loss of 398.2 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer due to the deal that was signed on Feb 8, 2010, for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.
The court told him that if he could not find a local address, then he had better remain in Tihar jail . Appearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Kumar, Christian's lawyer submitted that he had been in jail for more than six years and he did not know anyone who would arrange a home for him to stay.
He said his client had to search for a house himself, which he could only do after coming out of jail. The bench, however, asked him why his family members could not help him to ensure that bail conditions were fulfilled. He replied that he got divorced while he was in custody, and none of his family members are in the country to help him.
The bench said that it could not do away with the condition as it would be difficult for authorities to track him. It said that family members of the accused could help him out, and he had to provide a local address to get bail. "You have a permanent address in Tihar Jail. You stay there. What else can be done?" the bench said and dismissed his plea. Delhi HC on March 4 granted bail to Christian in the money laundering case relating to the purchase of VVIP choppers from Italian firm AgustaWestland.
He was earlier granted bail by the apex court in a corruption case related to the deal. He was extradited from Dubai in 2018. CBI, in its chargesheet, claimed an estimated loss of 398.2 million euros (about Rs 2,666 crore) to the exchequer due to the deal that was signed on Feb 8, 2010, for the supply of VVIP choppers worth 556.262 million euros.
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