The Enforcement Directorate, a specialised financial investigation agency under the Union Ministry of Finance, on Friday raided six locations in Chennai and Kolkata as part of the Aircel-Maxis scam probe. Names of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti had figured in the scam. Karti was engaged in a legal battle against the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Supreme Court to get a look out notice issued against him quashed.
The residences/business premises raided by the Team ED at Chennai belonged to Dr Sadayavel Kailasam, Sujay Sambamoorthy and Ramji Natarajan. Sadayavel Kailasam is the maternal uncle of Karti Chidambaram. Dr Kailasam, an orthopaedic surgeon, is the brother of Nalini Chidambaram. His residence and Aswene Soundra Hospital and Research Centre owned by him were raided by sleuths of the ED.
Interestingly, the raids took place within minutes after Karti Chidambaram boarded a flight for london after a drawn out legal battle in the Supreme Court for permission to go abroad.
The residence and business premises of Manoj Mohanka at Kolkata were also raided by the ED on Friday.
The raids were part of the investigation being held by the CBI into the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance given to Malaysia based company Maxis to invest in Aircel, an Indian telecommunication company violating the existing rules and regulations during the tenure of Chidambaram as Union Finance Minister. The Aircel-Maxis scam also featured the names of former Minister for information technology and telecommunications Dayanidhi Maran and his elder brother Kalanidhi Maran who owns the Sun TV network and a Malaysian businessman Ananthakrishnan.
According to the ED, any investment by foreign investors in Indian companies required the approval of the Union Cabinet if the deal is above Rs 600 crore. While the FIPB could approve investments up to Rs 600 crore, it is for the union cabinet to give the green signal for all investments above this amount. Permission for the proposal by the Malaysian company to invest $800 million (more than Rs 3500 crore) was issued by the FIPB in violation of the standing order, the ED had said earlier.