AgustaWestland: Court okays woman Director’s travel plea

New Delhi, Jan. 11 (IANS): A court here on Thursday allowed a woman Director of a Dubai-based company charged in a money-laundering case related to the AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal to go abroad.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar allowed Shivani Saxena plea’s seeking to go Dubai for 15 days from January 14 to 29.
On September 13, 2017, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) chargesheeted her under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED, in June 2016, filed the first supplementary chargesheet in the case against British national Christian Michel James, Delhi-based Media Exim Pvt Ltd and its Director R.K. Nanda and former Director J.B. Subramaniyam in its ongoing money-laundering probe in the Rs 3,600 crore helicopter deal.
The first chargesheet was filed in the case in November 2014 against businessman Gautam Khaitan, his wife Ritu, Chandigarh-based firm Aeromatrix and two alleged Italian middlemen — Guido Ralph Haschke and Carlo Gerosa.
The chargesheet said the alleged middlemen managed to make inroads into the Indian Air Force to influence and subvert its stand on reducing the service ceiling of helicopters from 6,000 metre to 4,500 metre in 2005, after which AgustaWestland became eligible to supply a dozen helicopters for VVIP duties.
Shivani, wife of Rajeev Shamsher Bahadur Saxena, a resident of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, was arrested on July 17 and later released on bail.
The ED alleged that the couple were partners and Directors in Dubai-based companies UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings Ltd, through which proceeds of the crime were routed and used for buying immovable properties and shares.