New Delhi | A Delhi court on Thursday granted bail for seven days to Rajiv Saxena, arrested in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland money-laundering case, and sought a detailed medical report on him from AIIMS within a week.
Special Judge Arvind Kumar granted the relief to Saxena and directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 5 lakh with two sureties of the like amount.
It also imposed certain conditions, including that Saxena would not leave the national capital without the permission of the court and he should not tamper with evidence or try to contact any witness.
It also asked him to join the investigation as and when called by the investigating officer.
“As per ED, the accused has fully cooperated during the investigation and they have not opposed his bail application. Further detailed report regarding his medical condition from AIIMS is awaited. Considering the overall facts and circumstances, Rajeev Saxena is admitted in interim bail till February 22,” the court said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) told the court that the report submitted was not detailed enough and it did not contain his full medical history.
The court directed the Tihar jail authorities and the counsel of Saxena to send the necessary medical documents to AIIMS.
“Let copies of the complete examination report as submitted by the jail authority along with medical documents submitted by the counsel of Saxena be sent to AIIMS. The Director/Medical Superintendent, AIIMS, shall furnish detailed report regarding medical condition of the accused within seven days,” the court said.
The Medical Superintendent of AIIMS submitted in the court that due to unavailability of Saxena’s medical reports when he was admitted on February 12, it was not be possible to file his detailed medical report.
“Saxena was brought directly to AIIMS on February 12 at 8:30 pm and was examined by the Casualty Medical Officer and the casualty papers were handed over to the patient and were not retained by the hospital. Therefore it is not possible to submit any medical report without going through the casualty papers,” the medical superintendent said.
The court has put up the matter for next hearing on February 22.
The court said that Saxena’s medical report as submitted by the Tihar jail authorities showed that he was suffering from blood cancer and his WBC was 16,200 which is on the higher side.
“Medical examination conducted on February 11 by LNJP hospital showed the WBC to be 14,500. There is a rise in the WBC during 2-3 days,” the court said.
In the previous hearing on Wednesday, the ED had said that it was not opposing Saxena’s bail plea due to his medical condition and the fact that he was cooperating in the probe.
The court asked the lawyer appearing for the ED whether the bail was not being opposed on merits, to which he replied that he was relying only on Saxena’s medical condition as he is suffering from leukemia.
Saxena had sought bail on medical grounds and told the court that he was suffering from a “heart disease” and “advanced-stage leukaemia” (blood cancer).
The court had on Wednesday directed the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to file a report on Saxena’s medical condition.
It also asked the Tihar jail authorities to comply with the court’s February 12 order in which it had directed the authorities to allow Saxena his necessary medicines and sleep apnea machine.
Saxena, who is in custody since January 31 after his deportation from Dubai, said in his bail plea that when all the other accused in the case, including Gautam Khaitan, Ritu Khaitan, S P Tyagi, and others were out on bail, there could be “no justification” to deny him the same relief.
Saxena, a director of two Dubai-based firms – UHY Saxena and Matrix Holdings, is one of the accused named in the chargesheet filed by ED in the AgustaWestland case.
Christian Michel, former AgustaWestland and Finmeccanica directors Giuseppe Orsi and Bruno Spagnolini, former Air Force chief SP Tyagi and Saxena’s wife Shivani have also been named by the agency in the chargesheet.
The ED had alleged that in connivance with Khaitan, Saxena provided a global corporate structure for laundering illegal proceeds of the crime for payment to various political persons, bureaucrats and Air Force officials to influence the contract to supply 12 VVIP helicopters in favour of AgustaWestland.
Saxena was residing in Palm Jumeriah, Dubai and has been living in the UAE for the last 26 years.
Maintaining that AgustaWestland had paid Euro 58 million as kickbacks through two Tunisia-based firms, ED has alleged that “these companies further siphoned off the said money in the name of consultancy contracts to M/s Interstellar Technologies Limited, Mauritius and others which were further transferred to M/s UHY Saxena and M/s Matrix Holdings Ltd, Dubai and others”.
It was alleged by the probe agency that the two Dubai-based firms were the entities “through which the proceeds of crime have been routed and further layered and integrated in buying the immovable properties/ shares, among others” in this case.
On January 1, 2014, India had scrapped the contract with Finmeccanica’s British subsidiary AgustaWestland for supplying 12 AW-101 VVIP choppers to the IAF over the alleged breach of contractual obligations and charges of kickbacks of Rs 423 crore paid by it to secure the deal.
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