New Delhi: Former finance minister and senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram, while denying all charges leveled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Aircel-Maxis case, said the decision of his arrest is “plainly motivated and totally untenable.”
In his rejoinder submitted to Delhi’s Patiala House court, Chidambaram said that after he was granted interim protection on July 23 this year, a reason was “suddenly discovered” to arrest him without even having issued summons in the past four years.
Mentioning that the investigation in this matter has been pending since 2014, Chidambaram said that it was surprising that even after a lapse of over four years the investigation on the issue still remains pending. “This only reflects the mala fides,” the rejoinder noted.
Further denying all charges levied against him, Chidambaram submitted that no offence was committed in the grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval, no illegal gratification was received and no conspiracy was hatched.
“The approval was granted on the basis of deliberation in the FIPB and the recommendations of the FIPB that was put up to the Finance Minister (P Chidambaram) in the normal course of official business,” the copy read.
Chidambaram also claimed that the questioning was done from documents which are already in possession of the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED). “As such, there arises no question of the applicant being evasive in his answers,” it further noted.
On the investigators claim that Chidambaram is a highly influential person and may influence witnesses and tamper the evidence, Chidambaram said: “This contention of CBI is false, speculative, bereft of the details and untenable. CBI had no hesitation in making false allegations against me and summoning me for questioning. Besides, no evidence has been submitted by the CBI in support of its unfounded allegation that the applicant (Chidambaram) may tamper with the witnesses or evidence.”
The matter is slated for hearing on November 26. During the next hearing, the bench will take into consideration the supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI and the ED.
The court will also decide whether the interim protection to Chidambaram and his son Karti should be extended or not.
The Aircel Maxis case emerged out of the 2G spectrum cases, pertaining to a grant of FIPB approval to firm M/S Global Communication and Services Holdings Limited, Mauritius for investment in Aircel.
The FIPB approval was allegedly granted in the year 2006 when Chidambaram was the finance minister. According to the rules and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy of the government, Chidambaram was only empowered to give approval to proposals involving a foreign investment amount of up to Rs 600 crore. However, he reportedly approved the foreign investment proposal of Global Communication and Services Holdings Ltd worth Rs 3560 crore approximately.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]