Delhi court extends AgustaWestland scam accused Gautam Khaitan's custody by 6 days

Delhi, Feb 2 Delhi's Patiala House Court on Saturday extended by six days the custody of AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case accused Gautam Khaitan to Enforcement Directorate (ED).

The ED had on January 26 arrested Khaitan, a lawyer, in a new case regarding the supposed ownership of black money and money laundering. He was arrested under the Black Money Act.A Delhi court had sent Khaitan to a two-day ED custody in connection.

The arrest came after the Income Tax Department attacked Khaitan's offices and different properties in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR). The ED has gathered proof against the lawyer for allegedly receiving kickbacks in other defence deals, other than AgustaWestland, amid the residency of the Congress-drove United Progressive Alliance.

The ED in its prior charge sheet in 2018 had blamed 34 Indian and outside people and organizations, including legal counselor Gautam Khaitan of laundering cash to the tune of around 28 million Euro. The others named in the charge sheet were Italian mediators Carlo Gerosa and Guido Haschke, and Finmeccanica, the parent organization of AgustaWestland, and ex-IAF boss SP Tyagi.

"Khaitan, the mastermind behind laundering the proceeds of crime in the present case, was known to the blamed people Gerosa, Haschke and Tyagi Brothers. He prepared a corporate structure of companies and got incorporated several legal entities across the globe. Thereafter, the proceeds of crime were washed through various companies in Tunisia, Mauritius, India, BVI, Singapore, Switzerland, Dubai and so on.," the charge sheet had said.

It also claimed that Khaitan also gotten continues of crime in personal bank accounts opened in his name and the records of his companies in India and abroad.

Khaitan was before arrested in September 2014 for his supposed inclusion in the AgustaWestland deal. He got bail in January 2015 and re-captured alongside Sanjeev Tyagi, another blamed for the case, on December 9, 2016, by the CBI. He later secured bail.

The CBI chargesheet has described Khaitan as the brain behind the AgustaWestland bargain.