CBI filed charge sheet against ex-Finance Minister P Chidambaram and son Karti in the Aircel Maxis money laundering case in Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Thursday. The charge sheet was filed before Special CBI Judge O.P.Saini and it will be considered by him on 31 July.
P.Chidambaram took to Twitter to express his dissent. ‘CBI has been pressured to file a charge sheet to support a preposterous allegation against me and officers with a sterling reputation. The case is now before the Hon’ble Court and it will be contested vigorously. I shall make no more public comment’, he tweeted.
Apart from them, 16 other government officials- both serving and retired, have been accused in this case. Ashok Kumar Jha Economic Affairs Secretary, Ashok Chawla Additional Secretary, Deepak Kumar Singh serving IAS officer are amongst the accused.
In September last year, the ED attached ₹1.16 cr worth assets of Karti and a firm alleged to the case.
The money laundering scam
In 2006, Malaysia based Maxis Group applied for FIPB approval to purchase shares in Aircel. 18 cr shares were being purchased at the value of ₹10 per share. So the investments being made were ₹180 cr. This coupled with the premium totaled up to ₹3200 cr. However, instead of showing ₹3200 cr, ₹180 cr was mentioned as part of the FIPB proposal.
The approval that can be granted by Finance Ministers is upto the extent of ₹600 cr. Since the proposal mentioned only ₹180 cr Mr.Chidambaram sanctioned it. Any investments exceeding ₹600 cr must be approved only through the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). So a ₹3200 cr proposal would have bypassed the FM. In exchange for this, his son Karti Chidambaram was given kickbacks.
P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram have won an appeal this month that prevents their arrest till Aug 7.