The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday, 19 July, listed P Chidambaram as an accused in the supplementary chargesheet filed in the Aircel-Maxis case in Delhi's Patiala House Court.
His son Karti Chidambaram was already an accused in the case. The Patiala House Court will reportedly take cognisance of the matter on 31 July.
WHAT CHIDAMBARAM SAID
P Chidambaram took to Twitter to allege that the CBI has been pressured into filing the chargesheet.
WHAT CHIDAMBARAM’S COUNSEL SAID
P Chidambaram’s counsel Kapil Sibal said that this was expected from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the CBI.
What do you expect from this government and the CBI? It’ll meet the same fate as other chargesheets of the CBI. Remember what happened to the 2G case, it all resulted in acquittals. Same thing will happen here.Kapil Sibal
WHO IS NAMED IN THE CHARGESHEET?
Following are the people other than P Chidambaram who have been named in the chargesheet:
- P Chidambaram
- Ashok Jha, then Secretary, Economic Affairs
- Ashok Chawla, Additional Secretary, Economic Affairs
- Kumar Sanjay Krishna, then Joint Secretary (Finance Ministry)
- Deepak Kr Singh, then Director, IAS
- Ram Sharan, then Under Secretary
- Karti P Chidambaram
- A Palaniappan
- S Bhaskaraman
- V Srinivasan
- Chess Management Services Holding Ltd
- Astro All Asia Networks PLC Malaysia
- Maxis Mobile SdN Bhd Malaysiap
- Bumi Armada Berhad Malaysia
- Bumi Armada Navigation SDN BHD Malaysia
- Ananda Krishnan Tatparanandam
- Augustus Ralph Marshall
- Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd Chennai
WHAT’S THE CASE?
The senior Congress leader's role had come under the scanner of investigating agencies in the Aircel-Maxis deal of Rs 3,500 crore and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.
The CBI was conducting a probe into how Chidambaram, who was the finance minister in 2006, granted the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a foreign firm when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.
WHAT ARE THE RECENT DEVELOPMENTS?
- In its chargesheet filed earlier in the case against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others, the CBI had alleged that Chidambaram had granted FIPB approval in March 2006 to Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Maxis.
- The Enforcement Directorate is also probing a separate money-laundering case in the deal in which Chidambaram and Karti have been questioned by the agency.
- A special court on Tuesday, 10 July, extended the interim protection from arrest granted to senior Congress leader P Chidambaram till 7 August in the case, IANS reported.
- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed the decision, saying the former finance minister and his son were evasive in their replies and as such, the ED would not be able to get to the truth if they were granted protection.
This is a developing story.
(With inputs from IANS and PTI.)
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