The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court that it would file a charge sheet in the Aircel-Maxis case involving the former Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, and others by August 31.
Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the CBI, told a Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu, Pinaki Chandra Ghose and S.A. Bobde that Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi had given his opinion that a case was made out for filing a charge sheet. He said the Attorney-General’s opinion was sought as there was some difference of opinion between the Director of Prosecution and the CBI Director on filing the charge sheet.
Mr. Venugopal submitted the status reports of the investigation conducted by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate in various cases. He said the Malaysian government had refused to cooperate in the investigation stating that no criminality against T. Ananda Krishna of the Maxis group was established. Despite Letter Rogatories, the Malaysian government refused to furnish even a single document. He said the charge sheet would be filed before August 31 based on available domestic evidence.
According to the FIR registered by the CBI, C. Sivasankaran (who had originally sought spectrum licence) was forced to sell Aircel. In March 2006, the Maxis group owned by Malaysian business tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan bought a 74 per cent stake in Aircel. The company got the Foreign Investment Promotion Board’s approval in May 2006. In November 2006, the Department of Telecom issued 14 Letters of Intent to Aircel and all of them were converted into licences in December 2006.
Within three months of this, Mr. Maran’s family-owned business (Sun Direct) received substantial investment from Maxis Group (Aircel), which bought a 20 per cent equity in Sun Direct. The FIPB approved this investment on March 2 and 19, 2007. The Maxis Group invested a total of Rs. 599.01 crore in Sun Direct between December 2007 and December 2009
