The Untold Story of Christian Michel and AugustaWestland

Raju Santhanam

Description

The agustawestland scandal has a distinct Bofors flavour to it. Stories, in the case of both, first broke in the foreign media. The countries that produced the Bofors gun and the agustawestland choppers have long forgotten the scandal. In India, though, amidst the heat and dust generated by leaks, insinuations and wild interpretations, the truth still eludes us. The untold story looks at how the scandal first unfolded in Italy and later became a raging storm in India. Caught in the web of complex events orchestrated by powerful corporate kingpins with vested interests are the three main players – Guido haschke, Giuseppe or SI and Christian Michel. The book also provides insights into the role of coteries in India’s power politics. Confidential UK cabinet documents from the archives give a totally new insight into the deal first struck in 1987. The untold story is a ringside view on the scandal and its ramifications.

Sujets

• Political Science
• Reino Unido
• Misconduct
• Leak
• Investigation
• Kingpin
• Innuendo
• Fraud
• Congress
• United Kingdom
• Politics
• Italy
• My Last Duchess
• Scandal
• Power
• Bofors
• Ramification
• Interprétation
• GUN
• Cabinet
• Galet aménagé
• UK
• India
• Documents
• Scam
• Corruption
• 1987

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 27 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788194110965
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

A veteran journalist, Raju Santhanam has spent over forty years in journalism in print and television. A former head of Zee News and editor of the Statesman , Raju’s forte has been investigative journalism. He ran the Statesman ’s Insight Investigative team for a number of years, and was well known for some of the best investigative stories in the eighties and subsequent years. Currently, Raju is focussed on research-based projects that have a global impact on international audience.
 
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For Jaya
Without whom this book would not have been possible and to Krishnan for his incisive inputs
 
CONTENTS     Foreword     Timeline of the Case     Preface     Disclosure ONE : Agusta and the Gandhi Family Probe TWO : Westland Story 1987: Rajiv Gandhi’s Flip-Flop THREE : The AgustaWestland Tapes FOUR : The Haschke Confessions FIVE : Downfall of Orsi SIX : Acquittal, Conviction and Finally Full Acquittal: The Italian Court Saga SEVEN : Michel’s Story: The Unfolding of a Scandal EIGHT : Michel’s War with the Kingpins of Finmeccanica     Epilogue     Index
 
FOREWORD
Military supplies and aircraft deals have always stimulated writers, investigative journalists and film makers to create great works describing its complexities and moral contradictions. Playwright George Bernard Shaw, who was also a political activist, captured the spirit of this business in his 1905 play Major Barbara , where munitions manufacturer Andrew Undershaft confesses: “Here I am, a profiteer in mutilation and murder.” Lady Britomart Undershaft, his estranged wife tells her son Stephen: “Your father must be fabulously wealthy, because there is always a war going on somewhere.” Undershaft agrees: “The more destructive war becomes, the more fascinating we find it.” His philosophy: “To give arms to all men who offer an honest price for them, without respect of persons or principles.”
It is said that Shaw had modelled Undershaft after the unscrupulous Greek arms dealer Basil Zaharoff, who had successfully sold faulty Nordenfelt steam-driven submarines to Greece and Turkey by playing up their mutual fears after the Greco–Turkish war in 1897. On top of that he also sold two units to Russia for the Black Sea security.
Anthony Sampson in his 1977 classic Arms Bazaar: From Lebanon to Lockheed says that the “honest price” policy was followed later in munitions sales to antagonistic countries by Alfred Nobel, Alfred Krupp, Andrew Carnegie and the Dupont family, described as the “Merchants of Death”. He highlights how US Defence Secretary Robert McNamara (1961–68) chose to ignore President Dwight Eisenhower’s warning during his farewell speech on January 7, 1961 on the threat from “Military Industrial Complex” to a democratic government. Instead, he initiated US arms sales to NATO countries to offset the deficit in the balance of payments, thus strengthening this lobby.
More recently Andrew Feinstein, former African National Congress parliamentarian and British TV commentator exposed more light on this intriguing world in his book The Shadow World: Inside the Global Arms Trade . He describes several deals including Al Yamamah, the largest ever British arms sales to Saudi Arabia from 1985, which was worth about 80 billion British pounds. A 2018 BBC study puts the total global worth of defence related sales as US $100 billion with United States of America capturing 34 per cent of the market, which is 58 per cent higher than its nearest competitor Russia, the second largest exporter.
“AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper Deal”, although not an arms contract is now engaging prime attention in India as the NDA government chose to give more importance to the extradition of Christian Michel, its prime accused and alleged bribe giver, by sending a special aircraft to ferry him to the country. He was the twentieth fugitive brought back to India from United Arab Emirates since 2002, which included hardened terrorists like “Indian Mujahideen” financier Abdul Wahid Siddibapa (Bhatkal Gang) responsible for ten bombings (2007–13) and 235 killings; all were flown in only by commercial airlines.
Senior journalist Raju Santhanam, who has long experience as an investigative journalist has now produced a riveting book on “AgustaWestland VVIP Chopper Deal” based on his extensive research from open sources supplemented with his personal acquaintance of Christian Michel. It is quite interesting to read that he got acquainted with Michel while on a quest to write a book on his father, the late Wolfgang Max Richard Michel alias Wally Michel, a mystery figure.
During my service I too had heard about Wally Michel but never had an opportunity to meet him. As Raju had said, Wally Michel’s activities used to transcend arms deals, blurring the borders between state to state relations, diplomacy and intelligence. That was the reason why his activities were covered by “D-notice”, which is DSMA Notice (Defence and Security Media Advisory Committee) by UK government and fifteen media representatives, which oversee a voluntary code operating between the government national security departments and the media.
A book on Wolfgang would have been an international bestseller. Yet the current attention in India made Raju change tracks and write about the son, sidelining his enigmatic father, “chronicling Michel’s own fight with Finmeccanica (the parent company of AgustaWestland), the Italian prosecutors and Guido Haschke (the man who let him down), and later, the Indian government”. In doing this Raju gives a fascinating 360-degree image to the subject, which no media report has been able to provide so far.
Vappala Balachandran
Former Special Secretary
Cabinet Secretariat
 
TIMELINE OF THE CASE August 1999 The Indian Air Force (IAF), responsible for carrying out VVIP communication duties, proposes replacement of Mi-8 helicopters due to operational constraints. March 2002 A global request for proposals issued. November 2003 Concerns raised on single vendor situation in a meeting taken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s PMO. A few recommendations also made to change some requirements to accommodate more vendors. November 19, 2003 Decision to lower the altitude requirement considered.   Context: It took three long years – from August 1999 to November 2003 for the then NDA government to decide on a helicopter for VVIPS. Why new VVIP choppers? The explanation of the then government was that there was an urgent need for replacement of the ageing Russian-built choppers. But it was found that only one helicopter was qualified (Eurocopter) because of tough operational requirements.   The Special Protection Group (SPG)