British national Christian Michel, wanted by Indian investigative agencies in the ₹3,600-crore AgustaWestland VVIP choppers deal case, was taken to the Dubai International Airport on Tuesday to be extradited to India, according to a media report.

The Court of Cassation last month upheld a lower court order which said that Michel could be extradited.

Michel, 54, was taken to the Dubai International Airport from where he will be extradited to India later in the day, Khaleej Times reported. The extradition procedure happens in coordination with the Interpol and the CID.

The development comes on a day when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj held exhaustive discussions with her UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi. India officially made the request to the Gulf nation in 2017 for his extradition, based on the criminal investigations conducted in the case by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate. The ED, in its chargesheet filed against Michel in June 2016, had alleged that he received €30 million from AgustaWestland.

The money was nothing but “kickbacks” paid by the firm to execute the 12 helicopter deal in favour of the firm in “guise of” genuine transactions for performing multiple work contracts in the country, according to the chargesheet.

Michel is one of the three middlemen being probed in the case, besides Guido Haschke and Carlo Gerosa, by the ED and the CBI. Both the agencies have notified an Interpol red corner notice (RCN) against him after the court issued a non-bailable warrant against him.

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