In some relief for former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Delhi’s Patiala House Court extended till August 7 the interim protection from arrest granted to him in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.
The Congress leader had filed an anticipatory bail plea earlier on Monday, days after the CBI, which is investigating the case, named him as an accused and filed a fresh chargesheet against him.
Chidambaram has also moved the court to seek anticipatory bail in the INX Media case, in which he has been chargesheeted as well.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday allowed Chidambaram’s son Karti to travel abroad to the USA, France and UK from July 23 to July 31 for business purposes. Karti was arrested on February 28 this year for allegedly taking money to facilitate Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media. He is out on bail at present.
The CBI and the ED are investigating Chidambaram and Karti’s alleged roles in the FIPB clearance for the Aircel-Maxis deal.
Karti Chidambaram, along with 16 others including serving and retired government officials, has also been named in the CBI chargesheet in the Aircel-Maxis case.
According to reports, Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holdings, which is a subsidiary of Maxis, sought approval for an investment of 800 million dollars in telecom carrier Aircel.
The approval was reportedly expected to come from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs headed by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Instead, it came from the Finance Ministry. This is despite the ministry having the power to approve only investments of smaller sums of up to Rs 600 crore.
In the INX Media case, Karti is being investigated for allegedly taking money to facilitate FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007 when he was the Finance Minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.