The Supreme Court on Friday said that it was too early to order an inquiry against P Chidambaram for clearing the Aircel-Maxis deal till there was evidence to show that the former Finance Minister knew about the deal being worth over Rs 3600 crore and required approval from the Cabinet.
Hearing an application by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in the 2G spectrum scam, a bench of Chief Justice JS Khehar and Justices NV Ramana and DY Chandrachud told Swamy, "At the moment, you have to give us any concrete material that can trigger it off that he (Chidambaram) knew. Once we are satisfied there is material, we will issue notice, whether it is the smallest person or be it the biggest person." The Court will take up the matter for hearing after two weeks.
Swamy made twin allegations in his application against Chidambaram and required an order from Court asking the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to initiate a probe. It was Swamy's case that as Finance Minister, Chidambaram headed the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). In March 2006, the Aircel-Maxis deal by which Malaysian-based communication giant Maxis sought to acquire 74 per cent stake in Aircel was given FIPB nod. This permission could not be granted according to Swamy as any deal above Rs 600 crore required approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The Aircel-Maxis deal was worth Rs 3600 crore. Besides, Swamy claimed that the takeover of 74 per cent in Aircel was merely on paper as Maxis later declared to the Malaysian Stock Exchange that it owned almost 100 per cent of Aircel.
Dealing with the twin allegations, the bench said, "Mr Swamy, invite our attention to some material that he was aware that this entity (Maxis) held 100 per cent statek in this company (Aircel). How does a Minister know that he has no jurisdiction while signing the fileIJ As Finance Minister he has to deal with thousands of files each day. We must arrive at the conclusion that he knew."
Swamy pointed out that this was a matter of investigation and should be explained by CBI if the Minister had knowledge of the crime alleged against him. In fact, he pointed out that the CBI in one of its status reports in the 2G case had submitted to the apex court that the FIPB clearance granted to Aircel-Maxis deal was under investigation. Swamy requested the Court to ask the CBI to present the outcome of its probe. However, this request was turned down by the Court that wished to be satisfied first.