What transpired at the 6 hour questioning of Chidambaram by the ED
Former finance minister P Chidambaram was on Tuesday questioned for over six hours by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during his second round of appearance in the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case, even as he reiterated that there was no offence committed.
The senior Congress leader arrived at the ED office here shortly before 11am and left after 5pm, officials said.
Soon after, Chidambaram tweeted, "Another round of questions by ED in Aircel-Maxis case. I remind myself that there is no FIR and no offence is alleged."
Officials said the investigating officer of the case recorded Chidambaram's statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) today, like the last time.
Chidambaram was earlier questioned in the case on June 5 by the ED, an agency that incidentally reported to him during his tenure in the finance ministry.
It is understood that the agency put across a fresh set of questions to the Congress leader regarding the Aircel-Maxis deal and on decisions taken by him in connection with this case.
The agency had last time recorded his statement for six hours on various aspects. The ED had also recorded statements of FIPB officials when this deal took place and it is understood that Chidambaram was confronted with those details.
Some
specific
queries
on
circumstances
and
procedures
adopted
by
the
now-defunct
Foreign
Investment
Promotion
Board
(FIPB)
while
giving
approval
to
the
Aircel-Maxis
deal
during
his
tenure
were
reported
to
have
been
put
across
to
him
last
time,
officials
said.
Chidambaram's
son
Karti
has
already
been
questioned
by
the
ED
in
this
case
twice.
After leaving the ED office on June 5, Chidambaram had tweeted that all answers he gave to the probe agency were already recorded in government documents. He had also said that there is no FIR, yet a probe had been initiated.
Chidambaram, who also served as home minister during the UPA regime, earlier had approached the court of Special Judge OP Saini seeking relief from arrest by the ED in the case.
The court had then directed the ED not to take any coercive action or arrest him till July 10 in connection with the case. The ED had first asked him to appear before it on May 30 and on the same day, Chidambaram knocked the court's door.
The
Aircel-Maxis
cases
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
Supreme
Court
had
on
March
12
directed
investigating
agencies
--
the
CBI
and
the
ED
--
to
complete
their
probe
into
the
2G
spectrum
allocation
cases,
including
the
Aircel
Maxis
alleged
money
laundering
case,
in
six
months.
The agency 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) and the case involved approval for FDI of $800 million (over Rs 3,500 crore).
The ED is investigating "the circumstances of the FIPB approval granted (in 2006) by the then finance minister".
The agency has said its probe revealed that the case of the said FDI was "wrongly projected as an investment of Rs 180 crore so that it need not be sent to the CCEA to avoid a detailed scrutiny".
The ED is probing the Aircel-Maxis deal under the PMLA after taking cognisance of a 2011 FIR by the CBI in the case.
Chidambaram in the past has described the ED action in this case as a "crazy mixture of falsehoods and conjectures" and had earlier said that the charge sheet filed by probe agencies was rejected by the court.
However, the agencies maintained that the FIR in the case had not been quashed. In September last year, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 1.16 crore of Karti and a firm allegedly linked to him in connection with this case.