Nothing wrong in Congress distancing itself from me: Aljo Joseph

The Central Bureau of Investigation is burning the proverbial midnight oil to finalise the second chargesheet in the Rs 3,600-crore AgustaWestland-VVIP chopper deal. The chargesheet is expected to be heavily based on the disclosures made by Christian Michel, the extradited alleged middleman in the case.

On the other hand, Michel’s legal counsel, Aljo K. Joseph is working quietly to turn the tables on the CBI and ED. Mystery has surrounded Aljo, a Congress worker who headed the legal cell of Youth Congress, and came ahead to defend Michel, much to the surprise of both the Congress and the BJP. It gave the BJP a handle to launch a direct attack on the Congress for its alleged direct links with the middleman.

The Congress quietly removed Joseph from the post quickly distancing itself from him.

On his part, Joseph has maintained an extremely low profile since remaining mum over his Congress party connections. In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, Joseph opens up about his identity as a Congress worker and how he plans to handle the political battle over the Agusta case that threatens to spill over in the next few weeks.

What is your connection with the Congress party? Why have you chosen to defend Christian Michel?

I come from a Congress family from Kerala. I am a party worker. This is not the first sensitive case I am handling. Anybody can allege anything against anyone. But the fact is that the Congress party has given a working space to all its professionals irrespective of their political activities. In the present context, I have taken up Michel's case of my own volition. But simply because I am representing Michel in court, the BJP has tried to point fingers at the president of the party. I don't see anything wrong in the party's decision to distance itself from me. Rather, I appreciate the fact that unlike the statements coming from BJP quarters to leave the case, nobody from the Congress party has asked me to leave the matter to save myself from the controversy.

The CBI alleged that a purported budget sheet recovered from one of the accused in the Agusta case has certain names and initials of alleged political beneficiaries of the scam. Your comments.

You are aware about the Sahara Birla diary case. The Supreme Court in clear words held that such documents cannot be treated as credible evidence under the law. The present CBI investigation is based on a similar kind of a budget sheet, which has been allegedly recovered by a foreign agency and the Indian agencies don't have even an authenticated copy of such a document which is being talked about in the media. The CBI probe hinges on probable abbreviations and its attempts to get a confession from Michel, both of which are not tenable under the eyes of law. The fact is that the CBI and the ED has found nothing incriminating against anyone after “30 days” of continuous custodial interrogation.

The BJP claims the CBI has evidence against Congress leaders?

The use of the investigating agencies right before elections to engineer public perception is the best example of abuse of power by the government. To use agencies for settling personal vendetta and getting political gain is not good for a democratic country like India. Today, there is social, political and economic imbalance, increased unemployment and insecurity in the country. Unfortunately, the present governance is aggravating the situation. This is the only tactic left with this government to hang on to power.

The CBI probe in the Agusta deal gained speed after the successful extradition of Christian Michel.

The extradition of Christian Michel James and two others, from what I understand from the media, is being portrayed as the achievements of the prime minister. But we cannot view such treaty extraditions or deportations in isolation or as achievements in India’s international relations. As a struggling politician in early 1930’s, Hitler had offered himself and asked for an autograph on a picture of Benito Mussolini, of whom he was a great fan, but no reply was received. Later, brutal friendship developed between the two, in their difficulties with lot of disagreement and, fearing Hitler's growing power, Mussolini found himself forced into World War II. The Princess Latifa episode is reminiscent of this friendship. The Indian agencies helped in rescuing Sheika Latifa, the daughter of Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum from international waters and extradition of Michel and deportation of two others where widely reported as quid pro quo.

How do you see the ongoing investigations by the CBI and the ED in other cases like the Saradha scam or against Robert Vadra?

What we are seeing today in West Bengal or what we saw earlier in Karnataka are reflective of the overall characteristics of a fascist right-wing government. We are also seeing its impact on governance where there is policy paralysis, unabashed misuse of agencies for political purposes and overall discontent in the people growing across the country.

What developments do you expect to see in the coming months?

The government is trying hard to divert public attention from the core issues by making allegations of corruption against its political opponents. It is important to say that unlike the BJP, nobody would suggest the educated youth in this country to become a pakodewala or tea seller on the street. The esteemed people of this country who constitute the sovereign, secular, democratic India will demonstrate that whoever tries to fool them with farcical investigations and treats them like the ‘Roman Mob’, will pay the price.