New Delhi: Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the VVIP chopper scam, has claimed that he is a dyslexic and is still being forced to give handwriting samples despite the fact. Michel’s lawyer Ajio K Joseph argued in a Delhi court on Wednesday that Michel was being “forced” to use cursive writing to give handwriting samples despite having dyslexia.

The court was hearing the British national’s bail plea on Wednesday, when the claim was made by his counsel.

The court reserved its order for December 22.

The Central Bureau of Investigation told the court that Michel has visited India 300 times, between 1996-2019, but not even once after the arrest of Finmeccnica president Giurseppe Orsi’s arrest. The agency asked Michel why he was running from trial if he was clean.

The VVIP chopper deal is being investigated by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate.

Delhi court on Saturday extended by four days the CBI custody of Michel, making it 14 days of custody for him so far.  He was extradited from Dubai on December 4, after clearance from the UAE government.
Michel is one of the three middlemen being probed in the case, apart from Italian Guido Haschke (US and Italian nationality) and Carlo Gerosa (Swiss and Italian nationality). It was alleged that he had entered into a criminal conspiracy with co-accused persons, which included then IAF chief SP Tyagi and his family members and the public servants had abused their official positions by reduction of service ceiling of the VVIPs helicopter from 6000 metres to 4500 metres and a contract for an amount of Euro 556.262 million was awarded to AgustaWestland International Ltd (AWIL), UK by the Government of India through Ministry of Defence on 08.02.2010 for the procurement of 12 VVIP/non VVIP helicopters.

The VVIP chopper deal case is being investigated by CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED).