Aircel-Maxis Case: Enraged By Leak Of Embarrassing Details From Chargesheet, Chidambaram Moves Court Against CBI

Senior Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram today moved a Delhi court against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), accusing the agency of leaking details from the chargesheet filed in the Aircel-Maxis case.

In his plea, the Congress leader has said that the investigating agency has leaked the details to the media to "to sensationalise" the issue. Chidambaram has claimed that the CBI has “clandestinely provided a copy of the same to the newspaper which is publishing the same in instalments”.

Earlier, in a series of tweets, Chidambaram had said that the chargesheet was provided to the media before being sent to the people named in it.

The court has ordered the CBI, the investigating agency in the case, to come up with a response to Chidambaram’s allegations by 8 September.

The chargesheet has revealed embarrassing details in the case. According to the CBI, the former finance minister had received Rs 1.13 crore as “quid pro quo” in Aircel-Maxis deal between 2006 and 2012.

According to the investigating agency, Chidambaram had abused his position as the Finance Minister of India. He “dishonestly and fraudulently” granted approval to a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) proposal “for which he was not competent”, the chargesheet says.

The chargesheet claims that Chidambaram was in touch with Ralph Marshall, a key aide of Maxis founder T Ananda Krishnan.

In one of the chapters of the chargesheet, the CBI says that a company owned by Chidambaram’s Son Karti Chidambaram and relative A Palaniappan received $1,94,831 (around Rs 87.60 lakh) from four associate companies of Maxis group.