The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday filed the second supplementary charge sheet against former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and others in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
Mr. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram had denied all the charges.
Among those arraigned are S. Bhaskararaman, Aircel Televentures Limited; V Srinivasan, Astro All Asia Networks Plc (Malaysia); Maxis Mobile Sdn Bhd (Malaysia); and Augustus Ralph Marshall, a resident of Malaysia. Bumi Armada Berhad and Bumi Armada Navigation Sdn Bhd, Malaysia, have also been named.
The charge sheet is filed for the alleged offence of money laundering of Rs.1.16 crore in lieu of FIPB approval in March 2006 by the then Finance Minister, said the agency.
The approval was given to Global Communication and Services Holdings Limited, Mauritus, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maxis Berhad, in alleged violation of the various rules and regulation.
The ED said this charge sheet was filed on the basis of evidence in the form of email communication retrieved from the devices seized from Mr. Karti and his associates. "The material, inter alia, reveals routing of proceeds of crime in the guise of bona fide business deals by the beneficiaries of illegal FIPB approval, in the companies of Mr. Karti.”
On September 20, the ED was given three more months to finalise the investigation in the case.
The ED filed the first charge sheet against Mr. Karti, Ravi Visvanathan, Padma Bhaskararaman, Advantage Strategic Consulting and Chess Management Services on June 13.
