Aircel Maxis case: Karti Chidambaram moves SC against CBI summons

Former finance minister P. Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court against the summons issued by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with Aircel Maxis case.

On September 27, the CBI had summoned Karti to appear before it on October 4.

Earlier, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had attached assets, bank accounts and fixed deposits worth Rs. 90 lakh of Karti, in connection with the case.

During investigation, the ED found that Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval given by P. Chidambaram in Aircel-Maxis deal was beyond his mandate.

The law enforcement agency, in its investigation, also found that the amount for the FIPB approval was wrongly projected to conceal the facts.

It also found that the company promoted by Karti and his cousin allegedly received two lakh dollars from Maxis Group in guise of software consultancy.

Earlier on September 14, Karti denied to appear before the CBI in the case, stating that a special court had discharged all the accused and terminated the proceedings in the matter.

The CBI, however, clarified that the investigation in the matter is still underway.

Karti wrote to the CBI, stating that as per the notice issued on February 2, 2017, the investigation agency does not have any jurisdiction to issue a summons to him.

The Aircel-Maxis deal refers to a series of allegations of kickbacks in the telecom sector, which was part of the wider 2G scam that engulfed the UPA regime.

In 2011, former Aircel head C. Sivasankaran complained to the CBI that he was being forced by then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran to sell Aircel to the Malaysia-based Maxis Communications group owned by T. Ananda Krishnan.

Earlier in February, Dayanidhi Maran and the others accused in the Aircel-Maxis case were discharged by a special CBI court.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy had alleged that in 2006 a company controlled by Karti received a five per cent share of Aircel to get part of Rs. 4,000 crore, paid by Maxis for a 74 per cent stake in Aircel.

According to Swamy, P. Chidambaram withheld the FIPB clearance till the five per cent was paid to Karti.