New Delhi: The CBI on Monday informed the Supreme Court that it is probing into the role of former finance minister P. Chidambaram in granting clearance by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board in the Aircel-Maxis deal.
Additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta gave this information before a Bench of Chief Justice J.S. Khehar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud when BJP leader Subramanian Swamy submitted that he had received a letter from CBI about the probe undertaken against Mr Chidambaram.
Dr Swamy wanted a direction to the CBI to file a status report on the probe on the next date of hearing.
The ASG said the CBI was conducting the probe from whatever angle possible and he would inform the court on the progress of the investigation after three weeks. Meanwhile, the ASG submitted in a sealed cover the status report of the probe conducted by the Enforcement Directorate against Mr Chidamabram and the court took the report on record.
In the last hearing, Dr Swami told the bench that the CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry into the alleged role of Mr Chidambaram, who was also enquired but no further action had been taken.
He wanted further probe based on the conclusions arrived in the status reports of the two investigative agencies.
In his application Dr Swami said he had sought a CBI probe in the Aircel-Maxis deal and the CBI had already filed chargesheet against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and others.
Similarly, his plea for a CBI probe into the role of Mr Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambram was pending consideration of the SC.
In particular one aspect which was alleged by him was that there had been illegal clearances of the deal by the Foreign Investment Promotion Bureau (FIPB) of which Mr P. Chidambaram was ex-officio Chairman; and this was done to enable Mr Chidambaram and his son Mr Karti Chidambaram to profit from the deal by granting an undue and illegal FIPB clearance which Mr Chidambaram was not authorized to grant. He said the FIPB clearance on March 7, 2006 was illegally approved by Mr Chidambaram.
Since the deal was over and above Rs 600 crore, in fact as much as over Rs 4,500 crore, it ought to have been placed before the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs by the then finance minister and got cleared.
This was never done. Thus, there was never a legal clearance by the FIPB for the deal. Thus, Mr Chidambaram, enabled pecuniary benefit to Maxis and thus prima facie committed a crime under Section 13(1) (d) the Prevention of Corruption Act, and hence he ought to be interrogated and chargesheeted.
