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* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI % Judgment delivered on: 04.03.2025 + BAIL APPLN. 1337/2024 CHRISTIAN JAMES MICHEL .....Petitioner Through: Mr. Aljo K. Joseph, Mr.

Vishnu Shankar and Mr.

Sriram P., Advocates versus DIRECTORATE OF ENFORCEMENT .....Respondent Through: Mr. Zoheb Hossain, Special counsel for ED with Mr. Vivek Gurnani, Standing Counsel for ED with Mr. Kartik Sabharwal, Advocate CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE SWARANA KANTA SHARMA

JUDGMENT

SWARANA KANTA SHARMA, J

1. The applicant, Christian James Michel, seeks regular bail by way of the present application, in case arising out of ECIR No. DLZO/15/2014/AD(VM) 7551-7584, dated 03.07.2014, recorded for offence under Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 [hereafter „PMLA‟].

FACTUAL BACKDROP

2. The brief facts of the case, as discernible from the material on record, are that based on a disclosure made by the then Head of External Relations of M/s Finmeccanica, the holding company of M/s AgustaWestland International Ltd. [hereafter „AWIL‟], Italian authorities had initiated an investigation in 2011 regarding alleged bribe payments through middlemen, including Guido Ralph Haschke and the present appl