Christian Michel is not singing like a bird, but he’s seen to be dropping hints, all of which might ultimately not mean much. The BJP might have some glee when the Enforcement Directorate reported to the trial court this weekend that Michel has referred to the names of “Mrs Gandhi” and “son of the Italian lady.” But, problem is, such small twists in the case will alone not suffice for the Modi government to fix anyone in the in the run-up to the next parliament polls. Simply put, what has come so far is too little after a long period of investigations after the Modi government took power in 2014. The government itself is now in its twilight years.
Fact is, there are so many loose ends to the story crafted by the investigating agencies including the ED and the CBI so far about the Agusta Westland VVIP chopper purchase during the UPA II period. It could take years and years of hair-splitting case study and presentations, as had happened in the case of Bofors before anyone can make sense of the deal. The CBI laying its hands on deal agent Michel finally, hauling him in from the UAE weeks ago, is simply another phase in the case.
The allegations against the Bofors guns deal during the Rajiv Gandhi period, in which too a prominent Italian connection had been alleged, worked against the Gandhi family. The suspected commission payment thereof was huge – Rs 60 crore to “Indian politicians”, Congress leadership and the defence top brass, as the Swedish Radio had stated in the mid 1980s. Nothing came of the decades of investigations, and the accused went scot free. The role of one individual has been validated by the Italian court; namely, former IAF chief SP Tyagi. The VVIP helicopter deal was signed in 2010, bribery charges came up three years later, and the deal was subsequently cancelled by the UPA government in 2014 before it stepped down from office. The Italian court had found, however, that millions of dollars had been paid by the company as bribes to Indians.
With the Lok Sabha polls approaching, it is quite likely that Michel would be made to speak up more in ways that would cause serious damage to the Congress party. Chances are also that it is by now too late for too much adverse impact to be made on the principal opposition. Perceptions are bound to strengthen that this is nothing more than a pre-election stunt. Whether any good would come out of this case is anybody’s guess.