Aircel Maxis Case: Delhi Court Exempts P Chidambaram From Personal Appearance For A Day

A Delhi Court on Monday exempted the personal appearance of Former Union Minister P Chidambaram in connection with the Aircel Maxis case.

The Court had last month issued summons to P Chidambaram, his son Karti P. Chidambaram and others after taking cognizance of the chargesheets filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as well as the CBI in the matter.

Today, Special Judge MK Nagpal exempted P Chidambaram's personal appearance after his counsel, Advocate Arshdeep Singh, apprised the Court about his difficulty in appearing before the Court.

Allowing the exemption application for the day, the Court also directed the ED and CBI to supply copy of the chargesheet and other documents to the accused persons and their counsels.

The case relates to corruption and money laundering allegations pertaining to the FIPB clearance granted for the foreign investment made by Malaysia based Maxis company in Tamil Nadu based network company Aircel in the year 2006.

It was alleged that P Chidambaram, who was the Finance Minister then, had received kickbacks for clearing the Rs. 3,500 crores Aircel-Maxis deal, and the proceeds were routed through the companies associated with his son Karti.

Both the CBI and Enforcement Directorate had registered cases in relation to the transaction under Prevention of Corruption Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act respectively.

The ED filed the complaint on June 13, 2018. CBI had filed chargesheet in July 2018.