The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday informed the Patiala House Court that it has been granted permission to prosecute former finance minister P Chidambaram in connection with the Aircel-Maxis case.
Patiala House Court’s Special Judge OP Saini took up the Aircel-Maxis case, which arose out of the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and submitted that requisite sanction from the concerned authority has been received to prosecute Chidambaram in the matter.
Mehta further said that there were a total of 18 accused in the case and prosecution sanctions were needed for six of them. He added that efforts were being made to obtain prosecution sanctions in respect of other five accused.
Meanwhile, the court extended the interim protection granted to Chidambaram and his son, Karti, till December 18.
On Saturday, Chidambaram had denied all charges leveled by the CBI and said the decision of his arrest was “plainly motivated and totally untenable.”
In his rejoinder submitted to the Patiala House Court, Chidambaram said that after he was granted interim protection on July 23 this year, a reason was “suddenly discovered” to arrest him without even having issued summons in the past four years.
The Aircel Maxis case emerged out of the 2G spectrum cases, pertaining to a grant of FIPB approval to firm M/S Global Communication and Services Holdings Limited, Mauritius for investment in Aircel.
The FIPB approval was allegedly granted in the year 2006 when Chidambaram was the finance minister. According to the rules and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy of the government, Chidambaram was only empowered to give approval to proposals involving a foreign investment amount of up to Rs 600 crore. However, he reportedly approved the foreign investment proposal of Global Communication and Services Holdings Ltd worth Rs 3560 crore approximately.
