Following reports that Attorney-General Mukul Rohatgi, in his opinion to the CBI, has found enough prosecutable evidence to charge sheet those accused in the Aircel-Maxis deal, Maxis Communications Berhad has urged Finance Minister Arun Jaitley that it be treated in a fair manner, citing a contrary opinion by two retired Chief Justices of India.
In a letter, Maxis stated that it has submitted all relevant documents to the CBI, including the correspondences with complainant C. Sivasankaran that “will show that Mr. Sivasankaran was a willing seller (of Aircel equity holdings) and that he had obtained the valuation he so desired for his investments in Aircel”.
The company has quoted an Arbitration Award dated September 29, 2011, where-under the Arbitral Tribunal rejected Mr. Sivasankaran’s claim regarding breach of obligations in undertaking an IPO of Aircel.
Rejecting the claim, the tribunal directed him to pay Maxis’s legal costs of $7.9 million, of which $1.4 million has been paid. The award was not challenged.
Allegation ‘untenable’In the letter, the company has appended legal opinions by retired Chief Justices V.N. Khare and S.H. Kapadia, who after perusing the facts placed before them opined that “coercion allegations are untenable”.
Justice Khare noted that “coercion” is not an offence under the Indian Penal Code, it only finds a mention in Section 15 of the Indian Contract Act that deals with civil disputes.
Concurring with Justice Kapadia’s opinion, Justice Khare said the chain of correspondences suggested that both parties acted on their free will while entering into the contract.
While the CBI case alleges that on November 12, 2005, the complainant received a call from the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran directing him to sell off 100 per cent shares, Justice Khare opined that after such a call there would be no further correspondence continuing the negotiations.
When a dispute is essentially commercial/civil in nature, Justice Khare said, it would not be appropriate for the CBI to initiate criminal proceedings.
