The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted bail to Christian Michel James, an alleged middleman in the purported ₹3,600-crore AgustaWestland scam being probed by the CBI.

The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, however, said the CBI was free to seek cancellation of his bail in case James failed to cooperate with the agency for speedy conclusion of the trial.

The top court said the accused had been incarcerated for over six years after being extradited from Dubai andthe trial was unlikely to conclude soon.

“This is the worst kind of incarceration where the CBI is still not ready with the final chargesheet and the accused has been in jail for six years,” the bench said.

“Why do you want him in custody after six years? You will not be able to conclude the trial in another 25 years,” the bench told the counsel appearing for the CBI.

Later the bench passed the following order: “The petitioner was extradited in 2018 and has been in custody for more than six years now. According to the CBI, despite filing two chargesheets and a supplementary chargesheet, the investigation is still ongoing. We are inclined to grant bail on such terms and conditions as determined by the trial court. The CBI will make an appropriate request to the trial court for imposing necessary conditions.”

During an earlier hearing, the apex court had wondered whether James could be denied bail merely because he was a foreign national.

The alleged scam relates to the irregularities following the purchase of 12 VVIP helicopters from Italian chopper design and manufacturing company AgustaWestland. The deal was cancelled by the Indian government in 2014 following allegations of massive corruption and kickbacks.

James had moved the apex court challenging Delhi High Court’s order on September 25, 2024, refusing him bail.

According to James’s lawyers, he has spent more than six years in jail while the maximum punishment, if convicted, would be a seven-year prison term.