Did They Brush By Each Other?

In February, a front-page headline of The Telegraph screamed: “PM offered to trade marines for proof against Sonia”. But it didn’t cause even a ripple: no newspaper followed up, no TV channel moved in for the kill. Clearly, the nation didn’t want to know. Even the Opposition didn’t pursue the report—till it was raised in Parliament this week, and Union finance minister Arun Jaitley was prompted to say: “No such meeting at all has been held.”

But the report was sensational. It said British arms dealer Christian Michel had written to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague that the Indian PM had offered a quid pro quo: release of the two Italian marines facing prosecution for killing two fishermen in exchange for evidence linking Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her family to the AgustaWestland helicopter payoffs. Michel alleged that the trade-off was suggested at a “brush-by” meeting--diplomatese for an unscheduled meeting—of Narendra Modi and Italian PM Matteo Renzi at the UN General Assembly in September last year. At that time, MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup had said he couldn’t deny the possibility of a brief conversation between the PMs but called Michel’s allegations too ridiculous to merit comment.

Now, after the recent AgustaWestland furore, the MEA has issued a clear denial of a Modi-Renzi meeting; Michel, on the other hand, has told The Hindu he stands by what he said. He says diplomats, explaining the rescheduling of Modi’s meetings with other European leaders, had blurted out about a brush-by meeting stretching considerably. He believes both PMs are desperate to settle the marines’ issue before a PCA ruling: it would be embarrassing for India if the court orders them sent back to Italy; and equally embarrassing for Italy if India were allowed to prosecute them. There’s another facet: the Italian government has a 30 per cent stake in Finmeccanica, the group which makes the AW-101 helicopters.

Michel has offered to reveal names to the PCA in confidence. He says he has documents to prove that money set aside for kickbacks has gone back to Italy. He has also offered to cooperate with Indian sleuths, denying meeting the Gandhis “even once” or paying them. He’s wanted by the Indian agencies, though: in September, a special CBI court had issued an arrest warrant for him; in November, the CBI had got Interpol to put out a red-corner notice for him; and in January, India is believed to have asked the UK to extradite him.

Michel believes he’s a political pawn in Italy, where his deposition might topple the Northern League government, and in India, where he is being sought to find mud that could stick to Sonia and the Congress. He says he has declined an Italian deal of pleading guilty in exchange for no prosecution because he’s innocent. And he claims that two weeks ago, an Indian official called him in Dubai to ask if he was still there and if he’d applied for an Indian visa.