ED will record P Chidambaram’s statement under the PMLA. (Express photo by Anil Sharma)
Days after a Delhi court granted him protection from arrest in connection with the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case, former finance minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram Tuesday is likely to appear before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi. The agency is likely to record his statement under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
The court had said no coercive action can be taken against Chidambaram until the next hearing, on June 5, but directed the senior Congress leader to join the investigation when summoned by the ED. Sources had informed The Indian Express that the agency had issued fresh summons to him to appear before the investigating officer in the case. in connection with the case. The directorate had first asked him to appear before it on May 30, and on the same day, Chidambaram had approached the court.
The Aircel-Maxis case pertains to grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to firm M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd in 2006 for investment in Aircel. The ED has already questioned his son Karti in the case. The ED had said that the FIPB approval in the Aircel-Maxis FDI case was granted in March 2006 by Chidambaram even though he was competent to accord approval on project proposals only up to Rs 600 crore and beyond that it required the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
Both CBI and ED had increased the pace of investigation after directions from the Supreme Court to finish their probe into the 2G spectrum allocation cases, including the Aircel Maxis alleged money laundering case, in six months.
Chidambaram had earlier described the ED action in the case as a “crazy mixture of falsehoods and conjectures” and said that the chargesheet filed by probe agencies had been rejected by the court. However, the agencies have maintained that the FIR in the case has not been quashed.