The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday has filed a supplementary charge sheet against former finance minister P Chidambaram in the Patiala House Court for his alleged involvement in Aircel-Maxis case.
According to reports, this is the second charge sheet being filed by ED in the Aircel Maxis Case. The ED has listed a total of nine people including P Chidambaram as an accused in the charge sheet. In addition to P Chidambaram, Karti’s chartered accountant Bhaskaraman and V Srinivasan, the former CEO of Aircel .
Reportedly, the charge sheet mentions about illegal FIPB approval given by Chidambaram to M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd for investments in Aircel.
The Aircel-Maxis deal emerged during CBI’s probe into 2G spectrum case which subsequently lead to revealing that how Congress leader, P Chidambaram, who was the finance minister in 2006, granted a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a foreign firm when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.
ED has alleged that in return for the approval, a payment of Rs 26 lakhs was made by Aircel Televentures Ltd to ASCPL, allegedly linked to Karti Chidambaram.
The court has fixed November 26 as the date for consideration of the charge sheet.
The CBI had earlier named P Chidambaram, his son Karti and 16 others in relation to suspected criminal misconduct related to approvals of investment deals. The CBI had also accused the former Finance Minister as ‘willful lawbreaker’ in its charge sheet filed in July.
The ED has also been probing the involvement of Chidambaram in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore. Recently, the ED had attached several of Karti Chidambaram’s properties in India and aboard. The total value of the attached assets was reportedly about Rs 54 crores.