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The CBI on Thursday told the Supreme Court that it has not given a clean chit to former Union Minister Mr Dayanidhi Maran in the Aircel deal.
The agency said it is still probing the alleged role of Mr Maran in the deal during his tenure as Telecom Minister and denied reports to the contrary. The CBI also objected to the allegation that its probe in the matter was “less than honest”.
The allegation against Mr Maran is that he had forced Aircel’s promoter (Mr C. Sivasankaran) to sell the firm to a Malaysian company (Maxis Group, owned by Mr T Ananda Krishnan) in March 2006.
The CBI said there is prima facie evidence that during Mr Maran’s tenure, there was a deliberate delay in granting the letter of intent to Aircel (when Mr Sivasankaran was the owner), and that undue favour was allegedly shown to Aircel after it was taken over by Maxis. However, till now it has not found evidence regarding an element of coercion on the part of Maran, the CBI said. The Malaysian firm was in touch with Mr Maran and his brother before the takeover of Aircel from Mr Sivasankaran, the CBI said.
The Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), an NGO and a petitioner in the 2G case, had alleged that soon after Aircel got the licences in December 2006, its owner Maxis made investments in Mr Maran's family-owned business, thereby showing quid pro quo for getting the licences. However, Mr Maran had repeatedly denied all charges.
On Thursday, the apex court also heard the plea by the Janata Party President Dr Subramanian Swamy seeking investigation into the alleged role of Mr P Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum allocation during the tenure of the then Telecom Minister Mr A Raja in 2008. Mr Chidambaram, who is now the Home Minister, was the Finance Minister in 2008.
The Government raised an objection that Dr Swamy has not provided it copies of his communications with the CBI for investigation into the alleged role of Mr Chidambaram as well as the CBI’s response in this regard. Dr Swamy agreed to provide the copies of all the relevant documents.
Meanwhile, the CPIL told the apex court that the CBI is not doing a fair and impartial investigation in the 2G scam irrespective of the status of the person sought to be investigated, as was directed by the court in December 2010. In this regard, the CPIL, represented by advocate Mr Prashant Bhushan, said the CBI has not charge sheeted Datacom (owned by the Dhoots of Videocon), Tatas, Mr Maran, Mr Anil Ambani and the Attorney General Mr G E Vahanvati, who was the Solicitor General during Mr Raja's tenure as Telecom Minister.
The apex court also agreed to hear CPIL's plea for setting up a panel of experts to monitor the investigation into the 2G scam.
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