AgustaWestland scam: SC to hear bail pleas of Christian Michel James on February 7

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday said it would hear on February 7 the bail pleas of Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper scam in which the CBI and the ED have lodged two separate cases.
The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, which said the pleas would be heard next Tuesday.
The Rs 3,600-crore alleged scam relates to the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from AgustaWestland.
In May last year, the apex court sought the responses of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on bail pleas of James.
During an earlier hearing, the counsel for the accused had said the case was covered under section 436A of the CrPC (the maximum period for which an under-trial prisoner can be detained) and James had served 50 percent of the sentence for the offense allegedly committed by him.
The accused was extradited from Dubai in December 2018 and has been in custody since then, his counsel had said, adding that the probe against him was yet to be concluded.