Son of British man detained in India without trial ‘lost trust’ in UK Government
Christian Michel, 64, is accused of bribing Indian officials to win a multimillion-dollar helicopter contract for British-Italian defence company AgustaWestland, which was signed in 2010
The son of a British man detained in India for seven years without trial has “lost trust” that the UK Government will bring his father home.
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Christian Michel, 64, is accused of bribing Indian officials to win a multimillion-dollar helicopter contract for British-Italian defence company AgustaWestland, which was signed in 2010.
He denies the charge.
He was extradited from the United Arab Emirates to India in 2018 and has been in custody in New Delhi’s Tihar jail ever since.
Christian has served the maximum sentence for the alleged offence for which he was extradited – seven years – but has still not been released.
Christian’s son Alois Michel, 28, said he has not seen “any kind of protection” being given to his father by the British authorities, and said: “Diplomatically speaking, they’re not doing anything to get my father out.”
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He said: “To be very honest with you, the UK institutions, we’ve just completely lost trust with them.
“We really don’t see any kind of protection being given or defence being provided to my father.
“I mean, the same speech has been made for the past seven years that they have raised the matter to the Indian authorities.
“But I don’t know if it’s based on just candid inexperience from them or just a way to get rid of us to some extent, but we know that hasn’t contributed to anything, actually, of any form of weight.”
He added: “The UK is just compliantly letting India treat one of their citizens in such horrible ways, while simultaneously, England is following international rights by protecting some Indians currently in the UK that are being requested to be extradited to India.”
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The UK Government is committed to seeing Christian Michel’s case resolved as soon as possible.
“We continue to provide consular assistance to Mr Michel and his family and have consistently raised his case directly with the government of India.”
The Government was pressed on whether it is “worth sacrificing our commitments to human rights” on Monday, as MPs debated the UK-India trade deal in the Commons .
Business minister Sir Chris Bryant described the trade deal, which was signed in July last year, as “momentous”, telling MPs it would bring £400 million a year in tariff savings for the UK.
Independent MP Iqbal Mohamed (Dewsbury and Batley) asked Sir Chris whether it is “worth sacrificing our commitments to human rights to sign these kind of trade deals with countries and leaders who are reported to have breached human rights”.
The minister replied: “There are a whole series of human rights issues that we always want to raise with our trade partners, and we do so.
“When we’re negotiating a free trade agreement they’re not necessarily a central part of it, but in this deal, for the first time ever, we have clauses on a whole range of human rights related issues.”
Although these are not “legally enforceable” they are an opportunity “to be able to further talk through some of these issues”, he said, adding: “Human rights issues are primarily the responsibility of the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office).”
Sir Chris told MPs the deal “promotes British values” and he expects it to come in to force “before the end of the summer”.
Former Foreign Office minister Catherine West met Christian’s family in August, when they were told the Government had raised the case with India, and would raise it again.
Alois said they were now being told the Foreign Office is “looking for the right availability for minister (Seema) Malhotra”.
He added: “It’s just quite surprising that they’re not taking any action to support us or support my father in this process.
“So we’re just kind of out of resources at this point. We really don’t know what could be the next step.”
Christian was initially accused by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) of being a key intermediary in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal, which led to a loss of approximately £344 million to the Indian exchequer, and was accused by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) of receiving about £25.9 million as kickbacks from the deal.
He is now also facing additional charges of forgery of valuable security, which carries severe penalties, including life imprisonment.
In December, the ED ordered his release, but the CBI refused.
Alois said: “They did it a week before Christmas to make him hope, right before Christmas, that the CBI would release him and then they didn’t.
“We were just all very much hoping to see him for Christmas, and that just didn’t take place, again.”
Christian has been continuously pressured to plead guilty, despite expressing his innocence, his son said, but that he wants to have his name cleared and for the Indian authorities to “pay for what they’ve done” by being tried in front of an international court.
Alois said: “It’s treason against their own constitution, and it’s also torture on an international individual that should already have been released since years now, and that was illegally extradited as well.”
Meanwhile, it was reported last week that India’s largest integrated private defence company, Adani Defence & Aerospace, had signed a deal with Leonardo, of which AgustaWestland is a subsidiary, to develop India’s helicopter ecosystem.
Alois said it was paradoxical for his father to still be behind bars, yet this deal has been made “with the company they are accusing of corruption or bribery”.