The AgustaWestland VVIP chopper scam was never merely about helicopters. It was about how political power, foreign money, and compromised institutions intersected at the very top of India’s governance structure. Yet, more than a decade after the scandal first broke, the case today stands as a disturbing indictment—not just of political actors, but of the failure of India’s central investigative agencies to extract accountability where it mattered most. The immediate trigger for renewed outrage is the release order granted by a Delhi court to alleged middleman Christian Michel, a key accused in the ₹3,600-crore VVIP chopper deal. Michel, extradited to India in 2018 after sustained diplomatic efforts from the UAE, has consistently refused to name his political handlers in India. Despite this stonewalling, and despite repeated claims by investigators that he was the “central conduit” between AgustaWestland and Indian decision-makers, Michel has now walked out of jail. This raises an uncomfortable question: what exactly did India’s premier investigative agencies achieve with his extradition? The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have, over the years, claimed that Michel possessed crucial information on political beneficiaries of the deal. Case diaries, charge sheets, and supplementary filings repeatedly refer—carefully, but unmistakably—to the involvement of senior Congress-era power brokers, including references to “dynasts” close to the political executive during the UPA years. Yet, when it came to converting suspicion into legally sustainable disclosure, the agencies drew a blank. Michel’s interrogation yielded little beyond carefully calibrated denials. He neither named names nor corroborated the trail that investigators themselves claimed to possess. And still, after years of incarceration, the system has been unable to present a watertight case strong enough to keep him behind bars. That is not a victory for justice; it is an institutional failure.
To be clear, bail is a legal right, not a moral endorsement. Courts are bound by evidence, not public sentiment. If a trial drags on without conclusion, liberty must prevail. But the larger question remains unanswered: why did agencies fail to lock in the evidence when they had the accused in custody? The AgustaWestland deal was cancelled in 2014 after it was revealed that technical specifications were allegedly tweaked to suit the Italian manufacturer, allowing it to qualify despite failing altitude requirements. Bribes, routed through offshore entities, were allegedly paid to influence decision-makers. Italian courts convicted executives of AgustaWestland, acknowledging the payment of kickbacks to Indian intermediaries. And yet, in India—the country that suffered the alleged fraud—the political accountability trail has gone cold. Christian Michel’s release underscores a deeper malaise. Investigative agencies appeared confident in press briefings, aggressive in remand pleas, and vocal in political signalling. But confidence in television studios does not substitute for prosecutorial rigour in courtrooms. If Michel was indeed the lynchpin, then allowing him to exit custody without disclosures suggests either investigative overreach or prosecutorial under-preparedness—or both. Equally troubling is the signal this sends to future economic offenders and middlemen: silence pays. Stonewall long enough, exhaust the process, and the system will blink. As for Michel’s current status, he remains in India, facing trial, even as legal battles over related financial charges and earlier extradition proceedings continue to cast a long shadow over the case. But the momentum is clearly lost. The AgustaWestland scandal once promised to expose how deeply political privilege had penetrated defence procurement. Instead, it now risks becoming another cautionary tale—of how even the most sensational scams can collapse under the weight of investigative complacency. Justice delayed may be justice denied. But justice diluted by institutional failure is far worse.
