Congress expels Christian Michel's lawyer from party
New Delhi, Dec 5 (IBNS): The Congress has expelled Aljo K Joseph, the lawyer who represented AgustaWestland VVIP chopper case alleged middleman Christian Michel in the CBI court on Wednesday.
Joseph was also removed from his post of Youth Congress’s legal department national in-charge.
In a statement to the media, Indian Youth Congress spokesperson Amrish Ranjan Pandey said: “Aljo K. Joseph appeared in his personal capacity. He didn’t consult Youth Congress before appearing in the case. IYC does NOT endorse such actions. IYC has removed Aljo Joseph from IYC’s Legal Dept and expelled him from the party with immediate effect."
Speaking to ANI, Joseph defended his action. He said: “I am an actively practising advocate. I appeared for him (Michel) in my professional capacity. If somebody asks me to appear on behalf of a client…I’ve only discharged my duty as a lawyer. It has nothing to do with the Congress.”
“My relation with Congress is separate, my profession is separate,” he said.
A court in New Delhi on Wednesday sent Christian Michel, the alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland chopper deal, to Central Bureau of Investigation custody for five days.
After questioning him for several hours, Michel was produced in the court on Wednesday afternoon.
He was extradited to India from Dubai late Tuesday night.
Michel, on his arrival in India, was taken to the CBI headquarters for questioning.
Michel’s extradition comes six years after his alleged involvement in the purchase of VVIP helicopters first surfaced in 2012.
It was alleged that he had entered into a criminal conspiracy with co-accused persons, which included the then IAF chief SP Tyagi and his family members, and government officials had abused their official positions by reducing the service ceiling of the VVIPs helicopter from 6,000 metres to 4,500 metres, at the time when the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government was in power.
Training his gun at the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said with Michel now in the CBI possession, beans will be spilled revealing names of those who were behind the alleged scam.
"We brought back the middleman Rajdaar (Chritian Michel) of Naamdaars (Gandhi's) from Dubai. Now even we don't know what deep troubles his statements are going to cause to Naamdaars," he thundered while addressing an election rally at Sumerpur in Rajasthan.
On Nov 19, a Dubai court upheld a lower court's order that allowed AgustaWestland deal’s alleged middleman Christian James Michael's extradition to India. The Court of Cassation upheld a lower court order which said that Michel could be extradited, dismissing appeals filed by his defence lawyers, media reports said.
That day, Emirati lawyer Abdul Moneim Bin Suwaidan of Bin Suwaidan Firm for Advocates and Legal Counsels, representing Michel, submitted documents showing that courts in Switzerland and Italy had ruled on not to extradite his client, reported Khaleej Times.
Last year, James was arrested in the UAE.
The extradition proceedings were going on since then.
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