New Delhi: In a supplementary charge sheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the Aircel Maxis case, the former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has been named as an accused along with his son Karti Chidambaram, Karti’s accountant S Bhaskararaman and Augustus Ralph Marshall who is a resident of Malaysia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
The ED stated that the then Finance Minister was only empowered to give approvals to foreign investment amounting up to Rs 600 crore according to the rules and the FDI policy present at that time but the investment proposal of Global Communication and services Holding Limited exceeded it and was approximately worth Rs 3560 crores and as per policy and rule Chidambaram was supposed to inform the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) of the case which was not done.
A Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval given by Chidambaram in March 2006 during his term was also deemed illegal by the ED. In another case, the ED has stated that the accused which were Astro All Asia Networks Plc Malaysia, Aircel Televentures Ltd, Maxis mobile services Sdn Bhd, Bumi Armada Berhad and Bumi Amara Navigation Sdn Bhd had allegedly laundered money worth Rs 1.16 crore due to an illegal FIPB approval to Global Communication and Services Holding Limited.
The ED has said that they have gathered enough evidence of the crime in the form of e-mail communication which they retrieved from seized electronic devices of Karti and his associates which revealed a financial link between Karti and his father with these companies.
On November 26, the charge sheet filed by ED will be considered in the Delhi court and special judge OP Saini will look over the case.
