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AgustaWestland case: Delhi HC declines to hear Christian Michel’s plea on India-UAE extradition treaty provision

While Christian Michel James has been granted bail in both cases, James has refused to furnish bail bonds citing “security reasons."

Delhi High Court Upholds ED's Rs 20 Crore Attachment in 2015 Cricket Betting Scam.(File)

Christian Michel James, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper “scam” case, withdrew his plea from the Delhi High Court challenging a provision of the India-UAE extradition treaty after the court Monday indicated that it is not inclined to entertain it.

While allowing him to withdraw the plea, the court granted him liberty to file a fresh petition with amended prayers.

James, in his latest plea before the HC, sought that the court declare his continued detention in judicial custody illegal, since he has already completed the maximum punishment possible for the offences he has been accused of — even as the trial remains pending.

The extraordinary treaty between India and UAE was notified in July 2000. James, before a Delhi trial court earlier, had submitted that he is entitled for benefit under Article 19 of the extradition treaty. This states that the term of provisional remand shall be remitted from any sentence passed in the requesting state against the person to be extradited.

Challenging the constitutional validity of the treaty, James argued that the application of Article 17 of the treaty, which bars the trial of an extradited person for offences other than those for which they were extradited, must be understood in the context of Section 21 of the Extradition Act. Section 21 states that an accused or convicted person, surrendered or returned by a foreign State, is not to be tried for certain offences.

When the plea was taken up before a bench of Justices Vivek Chaudhary and Manoj Jain, it orally remarked to James’s counsel, Aljo K Joseph, that his petition should be asking for specific relief and urged him to withdraw and file a fresh petition.

“There has to be a cause of action… we’re not here to solve your problems… Once it has not yet been passed by Parliament, it is not to be followed, it’s not even a law at this point… Once it’s not a law (the extradition treaty), there’s no question of declaring it ultra vires (unconstitutional). A proposed bill can’t be declared ultra vires,” Justice Chaudhary orally remarked.

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James, who was extradited from Dubai in December 2018, was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) immediately upon landing in India. The Enforcement Directorate arrested him as well.

He was accused of being a ‘middleman’ in India’s defence deal with UK-based AgustaWestland, allegedly paying large sums of bribes to IAF officers, Defence Ministry officials, bureaucrats and politicians via the firm.

The CBI has claimed that undue favour was granted to AgustaWestland in lieu of the illegal gratification. The ED also booked James on money-laundering charges

While he has been granted bail in both cases, James has refused to furnish bail bonds citing “security reasons”. He has been imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar jail since 2018. His passport has also expired.