The Supreme Court today agreed to go into the need for a further probe into the alleged involvements of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and former Tamil Nadu CM M Karunanidhi in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Arun Mishra said it would take a call on the issue after going through the status reports filed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on its preliminary enquiry against Chidambaram for alleged irregularities in clearing the Aircel-Maxis deal. The CBI and the ED had given the reports in sealed covers.
It was responding to a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for further investigation against Chidambaram and his son Kartik. Any amount involving a foreign direct investment of over Rs600 crore required the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), but Chidambaram got a proposal of Malaysia-based telecom company, Maxis, to invest about Rs4,500 crore in Aircel cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on March 7, 2006, he said.
Chidambaram had cleared the Aircel-Maxis deal allegedly at the instance of then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran. Following the clearance, Maxis invested about Rs600 crore in Sun Direct TV of Dayanidhi’s brother Kalanidhi, Swamy said.
In response to another plea by Prashant Bhushan, the SC asked the CBI to file a status report by September 23 on its preliminary enquiry.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice HL Dattu and Arun Mishra said it would take a call on the issue after going through the status reports filed by the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on its preliminary enquiry against Chidambaram for alleged irregularities in clearing the Aircel-Maxis deal. The CBI and the ED had given the reports in sealed covers.
It was responding to a plea by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy for further investigation against Chidambaram and his son Kartik. Any amount involving a foreign direct investment of over Rs600 crore required the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), but Chidambaram got a proposal of Malaysia-based telecom company, Maxis, to invest about Rs4,500 crore in Aircel cleared by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) on March 7, 2006, he said.
Chidambaram had cleared the Aircel-Maxis deal allegedly at the instance of then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran. Following the clearance, Maxis invested about Rs600 crore in Sun Direct TV of Dayanidhi’s brother Kalanidhi, Swamy said.
In response to another plea by Prashant Bhushan, the SC asked the CBI to file a status report by September 23 on its preliminary enquiry.
