April 27, 2012

Statement of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party.

The threat of a defamation case issued yesterday by company officials on behalf of Mr. Karti Chidambaram with regard to my allegation of his involvement in the 2G Spectrum Scam is laughable. I would welcome an opportunity to cross-examine Mr. Karti Chidambaram in the court of law which will save me the trouble of approaching the Special 2G Spectrum court for filing a fresh private complaint. In the meantime I demand that the mother and son duo of Ms Nalini Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram to explain the number of trips they have made to Malaysia during 2005-2007, and whether the CEO or any other official of Maxis received them and put them in hotels. I once again demand that Mr. Chidambaram should be asked to immediately resign because no fair and free investigation can take place as long as he continues to be the Home Minister.


( SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY )

Subramanian Swamy faces defamation suit over Aircel allegations
Reported by Sanjay Pinto | Updated: April 27, 2012 14:18 IST

New Delhi: A company based in Chennai, partly owned by the Home Minister's son, Karti, has decided to sue Janata Party President Subramanian Swamy for defamation. 

Mr Swamy alleged publicly yesterday that union minister P Chidambaram's son, Karti, owns a large part of this company, and that it benefited in 2006 from his father's position as Finance Minister to earn huge profits during the sale of telecom Aircel. 

Mr Swamy responded today by saying, "A company can't sue me ...the allegations are against Karti."

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In a three-page letter dated April 24 to the Prime Minister, Mr Swamy had said that Mr Chidambaram should be asked to resign as Home Minister and that the CBI should include the minister and his son, in its investigation on the sale of telecom Aircel to Malaysia-based Maxis.

Mr Swamy says that in 2005, telecom company Aircel was verging on bankruptcy. Its then owner, C Sivasankaran, was approached by Maxis, which wanted to pick up 74% stake in Aircel for nearly Rs. 4,000 crore, according to Mr Swamy. He says that this deal needed clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, which was headed by Mr Chidambaram. 

Mr Swamy alleges that Karti Chidambaram owned 94% equity in a company named Ausbridge Holding and Investments Pvt. Before the Aircel deal was sanctioned, he claims, this firm bought shares in the holding company for Aircel, named Advantage Strategic Consultancy Pvt Ltd. After his father cleared Maxis' purchase of Aircel, Mr Swamy alleges, Karti Chidambaram made considerable profits, though he did not specify how much.

Stake-holders in Advantage say Mr Swamy has distorted the facts. They say that in 2006, their firm did not buy stake in Aircel, either directly or indirectly. Instead, they claim, Advantage provided services to Aircel for which their firm was paid 25 lakhs. It was towards the ends of 2010, they claim, that Karti Chidambaram's Ausbridge Holdings bought equity in Advantage. They maintain that Advantage has no stake - then or now - in Aircel.

The Aircel-Maxis deal is already being studied on different grounds by the CBI. Then Telecom Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, is being investigated for allegedly misusing his office.

Mr Sivasankaran has alleged that licenses vital for his business were held up by Mr Maran, who was allegedly pressuring him to sell Aircel to the owner of Maxis, T Ananda Krishnan. After Mr Sivasankaran sold Aircel to Maxis, the licenses he had applied for were granted. The CBI is checking whether Rs. 600 crore invested by Maxis in Sun Direct, owned by Mr Maran's brother, Kalanidhi, was a quid pro quo.

Mr Swamy, who is the Janata Party president, was turned down in February by a Delhi court when he asked that Mr Chidambaram be investigated by the CBI for his role as Finance Minister during another telecom scam in 2008 - this one allegedly orchestrated by A Raja, who took over from Mr Maran as telecom minister in 2004. Mr Raja is in jail for awarding mobile network licenses at clearance prices to ineligible companies - he threw in spectrum for free. Mr Swamy says that as Finance Minister, Mr Chidambaram failed to prevent Mr Raja from gypping the country of thousands of crores, and that he sanctioned the low prices fixed by Mr Raja.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/subramanian-swamy-faces-defamation-suit-over-aircel-allegations-203151

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qgcZgS9wgcChidambaram's son benefitted in 2G scam: Swamy-NewsX

PC used position to benefit son, alleges Swamy
New Delhi, April 26 ,2012, DHNS:
‘Karti’s firm partook in Aircel bounty’
Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy on Thursday made fresh allegations against Home Minister P Chidambaram, accusing him of delaying permission for the sale of Aircel to Malaysia-based firm Maxis in 2006 when he was the Finance Minister so that his son Karti financially benefited.

In his letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Swamy demanded Chidambaram's resignation and wanted a direction to the CBI to include the names of the Minister and his son in the FIR on Aircel-Maxis deal along with former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran.

Swamy alleged that Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, a company controlled by Karti Chidambaram, entered into a financial transaction with Malaysian businessman Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televenture in March 2006. 

In May 2006, FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) approved the Malaysia’s firm Maxis investment of around Rs 4,000 crore in Aircel (where Maxis purchased 74 per cent share in Aircel).

Soon after the deal between Aircel and Maxis was completed, Rs.1,300 crore went out of Aircel in the form of loan without mentioning mandatory specification, he charged. 
Swamy alleged that the reason Advantage Strategic Consulting partnered Aircel was to share Rs 4,000 crore invested by Maxis in Aircel.

Sources close to Karti Chidambaram dismissed the allegations as “baseless”.
Suspecting that entire transactions were dubious, he charged Chidambaram with using his position as finance minister and ensuring that FIPB would clear the Aircel-Maxis deal only if his son Karti controlled company got share in Sivasankaran’s Aircel Televenture Limited to get the booty from Maxis. 

Swamy further alleged that the monthly report of RBI’s Overseas Investment Division on outward FDI from India showed that Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited has a wholly owned subsidiary (WSO) with a similar name in Singapore - Advantage Strategic Consulting Singapore PTE Limited. 

The monthly reports from 2006-2012, show that several millions of US dollars were transferred each month from India to the company’s Singapore subsidiary.

According to RBI report, the Singapore subsidiary’s major activities are in Financial, Insurance, Real Estate and Business Services. 

“Till 2008 December, Chidambaram was Finance Minister and here question arises how his son indulged in financial and insurance business in India and Singapore,” Swamy said. None of the transactions by Karti’s companies with entities abroad were shown in the financial statements filed with Registrar of Company in Chennai, Swamy said.

He said he had already written to the CBI, Enforcement Directorate and the Registrar of Companies regarding "dubious financial transactions" during the period of the deal. 

Swamy alleged that CBI and ED were limiting their probe to the role of Marans, Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi, in the matter. The Congress party refused to react to the allegation against one its most important ministers.

"How am I am responsible for answering to allegations about Karti Chidambaram's business deals? He can himself reply to Swamy's allegations," party spokesperson Renuka Choudhary told reporters.

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/244962/chidambarams-son-profited-2g-deal.html#

http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2012/05/2g-scam-pc-fraud-in-aircel-maxis-deal.html
12.5.12

2G scam: PC fraud in Aircel-Maxis deal. FM should answer 6 questions -- Dr. Subramanian Swamy

May 12, 2012. 

Statement of Dr. Subramanian Swamy, President of the Janata Party.

I demand that the Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee must answer six questions in Parliament on Monday,

(1) how the Ministry of Finance issued a Press Release to say that the Aircel Maxis equity purchase clearance in the Foreign Investment Board meeting presided over by the then Finance Minister Mr. P. Chidambaram was given on March 7, 2006 when the PIB website even today does not disclose this clearance amongst the clearances of other deals made on that day.

(2) The meaning of the “clearance” given by the FIPB that at the October 3rd ,2006 meeting to the Aircel- Maxis deal, as announced in PIB website of October 17, 2006.

(3) The Finance Minister should disclose how is it that when the Malayasia Stock Exchange was informed by the Maxis that their controlling interest in Aircel was actually 99.3%, far above the FBI rule that it could not exceed 74%. 

(4) Mr. Mukherjee must make clear whether a fraud was committed by including a dummy joint venture called Deccan Digital Network to beat the FDI rule.

(5) Mr. Mukherjee should also make clear to Parliament the conclusions of the investigations carried out by the FIPB since he became Finance Minister, and also agree to lay the said report on the Table of the Parliament. He should also disclose whether the DoT also conducted an enquiry into this share purchase fraud through a dummy JV and whether the said enquiry by the DoT has been completed.

(6) Mr. Mukherjee must also clarify whether the CBI has gone into this question since it is a criminal offence under Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

( SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY )
Chidambaram is a liar, I'll prove it: Subramaniam Swamy
INDIA TODAY ONLINE | New Delhi, May 10, 2012 | 15:44
Janata Party president Subramaniam Swamy on Thursday stepped up his attack on P Chidambaram even as the Government's best efforts to protect its Home Minister in the Lok Sabha fell flat.

After urging the Supreme Court to order a CBI inquiry into the Aircel-Maxis deal, Swamy declared: "Chidambaram is not Harishchandra. He is a liar. I'll prove that Chidambaram is a liar."

Chidambaram and his son Karthi are alleged to have benefited from the suspect telecom deal, signed in 2006. Chidambaram was the Finance Minister at the time and Karthi is alleged to have picked up a five percent stake in the company.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties reiterated their demand for a reply from the government on the issue in the Lok Sabha. BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain said, "We want the government or Pranab (Mukherjee) to give a reply, not Chaidambaram in individual capacity.

"We want to know whether he (Chidambaram) and his family has shares in the company or not. We will raise this issue again if we are not happy with the response."

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chidambaram-is-a-liar-ill-prove-it-subramaniam-swamy/1/188167.html

Faceoff over ‘phoney’ deal
By KAY BENEDICT
PUBLISHED: 21:18 GMT, 10 May 2012 | UPDATED: 21:18 GMT, 10 May 2012


Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha managed to do what many have failed - rattle Union home minister P. Chidambaram and finance minister Pranab Mukherjee at the same time and on the same day. 
Citing a newspaper report and Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy's allegations, he pushed Chidambaram to the wall in chaste Hindi during Zero Hour in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. 

'Madam, 2006 mein hamare desh mein ek company thi, jiska naam Aircel tha. Woh company Malaysia ki ek company ko Rs4,000 crore mein bech di gayee. Tab se yeh vivida khada hua hai (Our nation had a company named Aircel in 2006. It was sold to a Malaysian company for Rs4,000 crore. Since then, there has been a controversy).'

Pushed to the wall: Home Minister P. Chidambaram (left) was under pressure from BJP leader Yashwant Sinha

Sinha said, referring to then finance minister Chidambaram's alleged role in the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006 through which his son Karti reportedly got five per cent stake in one of the companies. Sinha wanted to know why and how Aircel sold 99.3 per cent of its shares to Maxis when the rule says it cannot offload more than 74 per cent. 

'The deal became controversial because then finance minister's (Chidambaram) son bought 5 per cent equity. This is conflict of interest. The government should come out in the open. The finance minister (Mukherjee) should make a statement,' he said. 

OUTRAGE
Opposition MPs were outraged in the Lok Sabha when BJP member from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bishnupad Ray, alleged home ministry officials ill-treated him when he went to North Block for discussing a matter concerning his constituency. 

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar took note of the sentiments expressed by a large number of MPs, who demanded an apology from the North Block officials. 

She said insult to a member of the House was a serious matter. "I am pained as it is my responsibility to protect the honour and dignity of every member," she said.

The veteran leader's theatrical presentation did have its effect on the Opposition benches. They rushed to the Well, demanding Chidambaram's resignation and a clarification from Mukherjee. 
The temperamental and avuncular Mukherjee lost his cool. 

'This is Zero Hour. If you, everyday, create a practice, I am not going to speak. If you force me, I am not going to speak. Please see the rule,' Mukherjee thundered. 

Most of his fulminations were expunged from the record. He was shaking so much in rage that his pen fell from his shirt pocket. UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who was sitting next to him, picked it up and tried to calm him down. 

Speaker Meira Kumar read the situation and adjourned the House till 2 pm. Chidambaram, on the other hand, had to invoke Jesus Christ after he was constantly shouted down by the Opposition. 
'Father forgive them for they know not what they do. I pray the god forgive their sins,' he said, recalling a lesson a missionary teacher had taught him in his schooldays. 

He trashed the BJP's allegations, saying: 'I categorically state that neither I nor any member of my family has acquired or hold shares in any telecom company.'

But nobody was willing to listen to him. Amid the din, the House was adjourned again till 4 pm and when it reassembled after the break, Mukherjee apologised for his ill-tempered behaviour and the BJP benches welcomed the statement with the thumping of desks.

He said: 'I tried to intervene, but the unfortunate incident took place. I lost my temper. It was not appropriate for me.' 

But the situation didn't change for Chidambaram. He was forced to issue a statement outside Parliament, in which he regretted that 'an honourable MP' made allegations that 'are wild and reckless'. 
The Opposition said it was in no mood to let Chidambaram off the hook. BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said his party would again demand on Friday a clarification from Mukherjee on the government's stand on the issue. 
The BJP will raise the issue again in both Houses of Parliament.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2142606/Faceoff-phoney-deal.html#ixzz1ufrwgoY8

Chidu-Karti-Maxis link: the dotted line is very faint
by FP Editors May 11, 2012

An apoplectic P Chidambaram told the Lok Sabha on Thursday: “I categorically state that neither me nor any member of my family have acquired or hold any stake in any telecom company. In particular, I categorically state that neither I nor any member of my family have acquired or hold any share in either Aircel or Maxis.”

This spirited denial came in regard to the irrepressible Subramanian Swamy’s allegation that his son Karti Chidambaram owned a 5 percent stake in Aircel Televentures, the company which C Sivasankaran sold to Malaysia’s Maxis Group headed by T Ananda Krishnan. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has, in its FIR, accused former Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran of forcing Sivasankaran to sell Aircel to Maxis around end-2005 by blocking Siva’s licence applications in various circles. These licences were cleared after Maxis entered the picture.

Chidambaram, as then finance minister, was one of the key players in clearing the Maxis investment in Aircel. PTI
Chidambaram, as then finance minister, was one of the key players in clearing the Maxis investment in Aircel since the Foreign Investment Promotion Board is headed by a finance ministry official.

Swamy’s allegation is that Chidambaram delayed clearing the Maxis-Aircel deal in 2006 when he was finance minister in order to benefit his son Karti – which allegedly came through a 5 percent stake in Aircel.

No proof has been offered by Swamy so far, but an Economic Times investigation comes up with intriguing facts that hint at some linkages between Karti’s companies and Aircel, but there is no obvious smoking gun. (Read the full ET report here)
The linkages revealed by the ET report are the following:

One, that Aircel owed Advantage Strategic Consulting (ASC) Rs 26 lakh as per the 2006-07 balance-sheet, but at that stage Karti had no equity stake in ASC. ASC also showed amounts due (under the head “loans and advances”) from Chess Management Services, Chess Healthcare Solutions and Halidon Marketing Pvt Ltd – which were owned or linked to Karti. So both Karti and Aircel appeared to have used ASC’s services at some point. The link between Karti and Aircel, if any, is through ASC as a common consulting partner.

ASC says the Rs 26 lakh shown under “loans and advances” was money earned from Aircel for consultancy services rendered. The company also said it never owned any stake in Aircel.

The significant coincidence is that the ASC-Aircel consultancy link relates roughly to the period when Aircel was being sold to Maxis.

Two, Karti indirectly came to own, and then abruptly exited, ASC recently. Through a company called Ausbridge Holdings, which was 95 percent owned by Karti, 200,000 shares of ASC – accounting for an effective stake of 66 percent – were bought in March 2011. Karti seemed to have owned Ausbridge till at least September 2011, but as on March 2012, he quit as Ausbridge director. ASC now says Karti does not own any equity in Ausbridge.

The question: why did Karti’s company Ausbridge suddenly buy ASC shares in 2011 only to later see the boss himself quit Ausbridge?

Three, according to The Economic Times, the second Karti link to Aircel/Maxis comes through a company called Kriya FMCG Distributors, a company founded by Karti’s wife Srinidhi, who was one of the first two directors. On 1 September 2008, Srinidhi and her daughter transferred their majority stake to CBN Reddy, and 15 days later, Reddy and Kriya bought 50 percent in ASC.

Kriya FMCG apparently had a few business transactions with Sindya Aqua Minerale Pvt Ltd, which is owned by Apollo Hospitals Chairman Pratap Reddy’s daughter Suneeta Reddy and her husband Dwarakanath.

Suneeta and Dwarakanath, through Sindya Securites and Investments Pvt Ltd and Deccan Digital Networks, are the junior partners in Aircel with a 26 percent stake – with Maxis owning the rest.

This, clearly, is another tenuous link between a Karti company and Aircel – but does it mean anything?

The intriguing point is that Karti’s wife and daughter seem to have been transferring shares of Kriya FMCG (around 22,500 of the 25,000 owned by them) to CBN Reddy and back between 2006 and 2008. Why was this done?

The interesting thing about the Sindya holding in Aircel is that it is all about optics. Indian law dictates that an Indian company should have at least 26 percent in a telecom company. But in terms of investment, Maxis accounts for nearly 99 percent of the effective ownership of Aircel. Put another way, Sindya is just a legal figleaf through which Maxis has routed money into Aircel ownership. The legal ownership is with the Reddys, but the effective ownership is that of Maxis.

But coming back to the Chidambaram-Karti-Maxis connection, where does the ET investigation leave us?

Here’s the sum-up: A company (ASC) associated in 2011 with Karti (but not in 2006, when the Maxis deal was cleared by P Chidambaram) had a consulting deal with Aircel Televenture (which had been sold to Maxis) worth Rs 26 lakh. Another company (Kriya) owned by Chidambaram’s daughter-in-law (Srinidhi, Karti’s wife) had a business relationship with a company owned by the junior partners in Aircel.

From a plain reading, it does not look like there is any direct link between Chidambaram and Maxis.

However, this is not to rubbish the Subramanian Swamy allegation altogether. What we have is sketchy evidence derived from skimpy balance-sheets filed with the registrar of companies that may not capture all the transactions that may have happened between ASC and Aircel. Only a detailed forensic scrutiny of the books of both Aircel and ASC will reveal what transpired between 2005 and 2012.

Moreover, the series of back-and-forth share transactions involving Kriya FMCG and CBN Reddy and Karti’s entry and exit from Ausbridge, which held two-thirds of ASC shares, need some explanation. The whys of Karti Chidambaram’s transactions are far from clear.

It is also worth noting that the CBI charge-sheet talks of Maran pressuring Sivasankaran to sell Aircel to Maxis in return for an investment in a family company, Sun Direct. But doubts have been cast on this allegation by one of the main litigants in the case against Dayanidhi Maran - Anil Kumar of Telecom Watchdog (Read here).

Bottomline: the line connecting Karti Chidambaram to Maxis is a tenuous one for now.

http://www.firstpost.com/business/chidu-karti-maxis-link-the-dotted-line-is-very-faint-306459.html


Will take Aircel-Maxis deal issue to logical end: BJP
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, May 11, 2012

Will take Aircel-Maxis deal issue to logical end: BJP

BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Friday upped the ante on the issue of home minister P Chidambaram's son Karti's alleged business interests in telecom company Aircel, saying: "We will take the issue to its logical end."
Karti Chidambaram is in the eye of a political storm amid allegations that a company he owns loaned Rs. 26 lakh to Aircel Televentures in possible return of a minority stake, whose value rose manifold because of a delayed clearance by the government.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has alleged that there was a financial transaction of Rs. 26 lakh between Karti Chidambaram-controlled Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited to acquire shares in C Sivasankaran's Aircel Televentures "to share booty of around Rs. 4,000 crore from Malaysian company Maxis."

"There is a corresponding share increase tallying with Rs. 26 lakh can be seen in Aircel after the financial transaction with the Karti-controlled company," Swamy alleged in his letter.

"Moreover, further analysis of financial statements of concerned companies gives the impression that soon after the Aircel-Maxis deal, huge amount of more than Rs. 1,300 crore has gone out of Aircel Televentures in the form of loans, without mentioning any mandatory specifics," Swamy has alleged.

Swamy has essentially alleged P Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, had delayed approving the Maxis's takeover of Aircel in 2006 only to benefit his son Karti, who would have made substantial gains by way of his holding of a 5% stake in Aircel.

Swamy has offered no proof to establish the precise link between Karti's interest in Aircel through a raft of companies such as Chess Management Services, Chess Healthcare Solutions and Halidon Marketing Pvt Ltd — which were owned or linked to the home minister's son.

On Thursday, the home minister dismissed Swamy's allegations as wild and baseless.

"These are wild, reckless allegations and forum of Parliament is being misused to level allegations against private citizens. Neither I nor any member of my family holds any share in Aircel or Maxis," the home minister had said in Lok Sabha, quoting his son.



http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print/854433.aspx

Source: Organiser - Weekly Date: 5/12/2012 10:08:35 PM
Swamy Exposes Chidambaram Scam

Stench of the Aircel-Maxis sleaze

Chidambaram's response unconvincing

BJP demands probe, his resignation

Dr Subramanian Swamy

Aircel is a telecom company providing mobile phone wireless services using 2G and 3G spectrum. Before 2006 it was wholly owned by a Tamil Nadu based capitalist called Sivasankaran, but by January 2006 it came to be owned by a Malaysia born citizen called T Anantha Krishnan, popularly called TAK. He is the son of a Sri Lankan Tamil immigrant, who arrived as indentured plantation worker. 

T Anantha Krishnan's second wife is Latchoumie (Lakshmi?) Marie Helene (LMH) born to a white French father who belongs the Le Chateau Briand family, and Tamil mother. She is popularly known as Mme ‘TAK’.

TAK made his fortune first in gambling casinos and laundering LTTE drug and extortion loot garnered by the terrorist organisation treasurer K Padmanabhan (now Sri Lanka custody), and then branched into construction etc., to become a powerfully influential person in Malaysia, and had helped Quatrrocchi grease the system in that country and escape the law because of the CBI’s deliberately chosen counsel.

Mme TAK, according to my usually reliable sources in Paris, is the owner of a very big art gallery, La Fantaisie, which can be described as the Christie's in France! Carla Bruni, the Italian wife of former French President Sarkozy, is a partner in this venture since two years!

Smt TAK is also owner of a sophisticated Music Recording House in Paris. Carla, who is also a pop singer, uses Smt TAK's studios for registering and issue of her albums!

Sonia, her son Rahul, and her sisters are frequent visitors. Whenever Rahul goes to France, he stays with Smt TAK. He had been there a month and half back.

Smt TAK is also owner of vine yards in northern Colombia with joint ownership with the Colombian rich families Bettancourt and Katalli. Rahul Gandhi’s former live in friend Veronique is connected to the Kattalli cartel.

Smt Tak is also one of the major shareholders in the French aeronautical company Dassault whose worldwide rejected fighter aircraft Rafaele was bought by India’s Defence Ministry for a hefty 20 per cent bribe. 

But the TAKs are smart. This time in the French election they backed Hollande, who won the Presidency.

It is in this context we have to see the Aircel-Maxis deal since it impinges on India’s national security as did Swan-Etisalat and Unitech-Telenor deals. Telecom towers and equipment can do cyber warfare, snoop on closed door conversations and read email.

The Indian owner of Aircel, Sivasankaran is a financial buccaneer, working always on the edge. In 2005 after getting a spectrum licence, and short of funds, he put it out that he was looking for foreign direct investment. Maxis approached him incognito through the Standard Chartered Bank. It is now alleged in an FIR of the CBI, that at that stage the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran entered the scene. According to Justice Shivraj Patil Report (available on the DoT website), Maran misused his office to arm twist Sivasankaran to sell all his shares in Aircel to Maxis in January 2006. Whether that was a drama by Maran and Sivasankaran or real, only the Supreme Court inquiry will reveal. Sivasankaran however became ready to sell.

But there was a problem. FDI Rules require an Indian partner to hold at least 26 per cent of the equity for the deal to be okayed by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Three months earlier till January 2006, it was at least 51 per cent, i.e., Indian to be majority partner. Maran got that changed to just 26 per cent and the Indian partner to be in minority. But Maxis owner TAK would have none of that. He wanted Aircel to be a wholly owned company of his. That was against the FDI rules. So Maran was in a fix. His brother and owner of Sun TV Kalanidhi was promised Rs 800 crores bounty for his media venture by TAK, and he was salivating furiously.

Enter P Chidambaran, the Dawood Ibrahim of Indian Finance, and Jesus Christ in Lok Sabha. He was then as Finance Minister which meant the ex-officio Chairman of the FIPB. As with Raja in the January 2008 Chidambaram advising him on “share dilution” which landed Raja in Tihar, Chidambaram advised Maran to devise a trick: Form a Joint Venture with a young ambitious entrepreneur, all expenses paid. Thus they found Sunita Reddy, part owner of Apollo Hospital.

Thus Deccan Ventures came into being, but it was joint only in name. By using a financial derivative, Maxis owned all of it. With the money thus put it, Deccan purchased 26 per cent of Aircel. TAK declared proudly to Malaysian Stock Exchange and to his company shareholders’ meeting that he had bought 99.3 per cent of Aircel equity (0.7 per cent still left with sivasankaran) and thus dejure Aircel became a wholly owned company of Maxis.

But TAK filed for permission with FIPB as a 74 per cent owner and got it cleared in March 2006. But there was a catch. Chidambaram did not like it that Maran had de-camped with the bribe loot. So the March 2006 FIPB clearance was not made in the name of Global Communications, a wholly owned company of Maxis, but in the name of some US company. Then Chidambaram sat on the file while TAK sweated with the thought of being so near yet so far.

Enter son Karti, fixer, ambulance chaser, money launderer, small arms dealer etc., and through a maze of cross holdings acquires at least 5 per cent of the Aircel shares before father PC re-convenes the FIPB in October 2006, and delete the name of the US company and put TAK company as the 74 per cent owner of Aircel equity. Karti’s wife Dr Srinidhi starts working as a consulting doctor with Apollo Hospital. All are happy now.

So what is criminal offence? The biggest is the bogus FIPB clearance. P Chidambaram has committed offence of criminal misconduct under Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act which entails a seven year jail term for Maran, Karti, and may be Sivasankaran too under sub-Section (ii) read with IPC 120A&B. The Supreme Court has been apprised by me on May 10 last, and the matter will be heard after the vacations on July 17. If Manmohan Singh does not want to testify in court, he must get rid of Chidambaram from the Cabinet. This is what all Congress leaders except one want. 

In the meantime the Indonesian Police has issued an arrest warrant against Maxis CEO Roy Marshall for fraud, cheating and money laundering in another connected company Astro. Its money trail leads to a favourite English news TV channel. Marshall is also a Sri Lankan Tamil, and has played host to Chidambaram’s wife Nalini when the deal was being brokered. 

The corruption pimple under UPA rule has defiled Bharat Mata but now it seems about to burst. Cure lies in operating vishkanya poison from our body politic.



Different business interests of Karti Chidambaram

The allegation was first raised by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who accused P Chidambaram, then Finance Minister, of delaying clearance to the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006, to benefit his son. Swamy contends that Karti received a 5 per cent stake in Aircel, a charge the latter denies.

Companies owned by Karti or his known associates (this includes companies that are or were at some point owned by Karti or family members):

* Ausbridge Holdings and Investments Pvt Ltd 
* Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd 
* Chess Management Services Pvt Ltd 
* Chess Health Care Pvt Ltd 
* Halidon Marketing Pvt Ltd 
* Kriya FMCG Distributors Pvt Ltd 
* Kaiser Luxury Hotels Pvt Ltd 
* Kaiser Surya Samudra Resorts Pvt Ltd

Known associates and directors of companies owned by Karti: CBN Reddy, S Sundar, Mohanan Rajesh.
Swamy's allegation

Advantage Strategic Consulting (ASC), a company owned by Karti, paid Rs 26 lakh to Aircel Televentures. He received a 5 per cent stake in return.

ASC's 2006-07 balancesheet, under the head 'loans and advances', a payment of Rs 26 lakh is shown as having been made to Aircel Televenture Ltd. At this point, however, Karti had no equity stake in Advantage Strategic.

It was solely owned by Ravi Viswanathan and Padma Viswanathan. The company had business relations with other companies owned by Karti.

Alongside the payment to Aircel Televentures, payments made to Karti-owned companies such as Chess Management Services, Chess Health Care Solutions and Halidon Marketing Pvt Ltd have also been listed under the same head.

There is no entry to show that ASC held any stake in Aircel Televentures (the company later became Siva Ventures, named after billionaire owner C Sivasankaran) in either company's balance sheet.

Siva Ventures, being a large company, does not list individual transactions on its balance-sheet schedules. Records of Siva Ventures prior to 2006 are unavailable.

In a legal notice served to Subramanian Swamy, lawyers for Advantage Strategic have said that the Rs 26 lakh payment was from Aircel for consultancy services rendered by Advantage. It is unclear whether entries against Chess Management and Halidon are also similarly amounts paid by them to Advantage for consultancy services. 

Litany of untruths

o Govt claimed no delay on part of Chidambaram in approving the Aircel-Maxis deal. It said the March 7, 2006 meeting of FIPB cleared the Maxis investment of around Rs. 4,000 crore in Aircel.

o But an October 17, 2006 Press release of FIPB shows Chidambaram cleared the deal only in the October 3, 2006 meeting of FIPB.

o The vital information that the Govt concealed is that at the March 7, 2006 meeting of the FIPB, clearances were given to another company with similar name – BT Global Communication (Mauritius) Ltd.

o The FIPB also did not show the amount of foreign investment and kept the concerned column blank. Normally all FIPB clearances would specify the value of foreign investment.

http://organiser.org/Encyc/2012/5/12/EXPOSE.aspx?NB=&lang=4&m1=&m2=&p1=&p2=&p3=&p4=

The core national security risk created by the Chidambaram-Aircel-Maxis ghotala has been explained with precision and clarity by Dr. Subramanian Swamy in the context of an international Sarkozy-Carla Bruni-Sonia-TAK-Rahul pow-wow network. "...we have to see the Aircel-Maxis deal since it impinges on India’s national security as did Swan-Etisalat and Unitech-Telenor deals. Telecom towers and equipment can do cyber warfare, snoop on closed door conversations and read email...FDI Rules require an Indian partner to hold at least 26 per cent of the equity for the deal to be okayed by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)...TAK declared proudly to Malaysian Stock Exchange and to his company shareholders’ meeting that he had bought 99.3 per cent of Aircel equity (0.7 per cent still left with sivasankaran) and thus dejure Aircel became a wholly owned company of Maxis...the bogus FIPB clearance. P Chidambaram has committed offence of criminal misconduct under Section 13(1)(d)(iii) of the Prevention of Corruption Act which entails a seven year jail term for Maran, Karti, and may be Sivasankaran too under sub-Section (ii) read with IPC 120A&B. The Supreme Court has been apprised by me on May 10 last, and the matter will be heard after the vacations on July 17. If Manmohan Singh does not want to testify in court, he must get rid of Chidambaram from the Cabinet. This is what all Congress leaders except one want." Read on at: http://organiser.org//Encyc/2012/5/12/EXPOSE.aspx?NB=&lang=4&m1=&m2=&p1=&p2=&p3=&p4=

By fraudulent manipulation of company joint ventures and deals, Aircel-Maxis has been granted 2G licence to a company almost with 100% ownership by a foreigner, LTTE-linked TAK (T Anantha Krishnan) of Malaysia. The lifting of the corporate veil has to be done by Supreme Court and PC should go to Tihar for the illegality.

Kalyanaraman

EXPLAINED: Controversy over Chidambaram, Aircel-Maxis
Last updated on: May 15, 2012 18:46 IST


A powerful, intelligent man with prime ministerial ambitions is in deep trouble.

Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's role in the Aircel-Maxis telecom deal has been sharply questioned by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley in the Rajya Sabha.

On Monday, May 14, Chidambaram defended himself and his son Karti emotionally. Chidambaram reiterates that neither he nor his family members 'had any equity at any time indirectly or directly or have any investment in any telecom company, including Aircel or Maxis.'

A normally unemotional Chidambaram went to the extent to say 'It would be much simpler if somebody took a dagger and plunged it into my heart rather than questioning my integrity.'

Jaitley, a lawyer, responded to his 20-year-old-lawyer colleague that 'Our concern is not to plunge a dagger in somebody's heart, the purity and fairness of government should be maintained.'

Is Chidambaram in serious trouble? What is the alleged Aircel-Maxis scam? What is Chidambaram and his son's alleged role in it?

We shed some light on the controversial issue.

What is the Aircel-Maxis deal?

Maxis is a Malaysian company owned by business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan, popularly known as TAK. He is a Malaysian citizen of Sri Lankan Tamil origin.

Aircel was first promoted by NRI tycoon C Sivasankaran (Siva), a native of Tamil Nadu.

In 2006, Maxis took over Aircel by acquiring 74 per cent shares. The rest (26 percent) is now owned by Indian companies related to the Apollo Hospital group. These shares are managed by Sunita Reddy, one of Apollo group founder Dr C Pratap Reddy's daughters.

This deal became controversial after the 2G spectrum scam when the Supreme Court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe then telecom minister A Raja's predecessors.
Former Union Minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Sun TV MD Kalanithi Maran

In April 2011, Siva complained to the CBI that he was arm-twisted by the previous telecom minister, Dayanidhi Maran, to sell his Aircel stake to Maxis.

Maran resigned from the Union Cabinet in mid-2011 after the CBI reported 'some element of coercion' on the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The CBI has now registered an First Information Report naming Maran and his elder brother Kalanidhi Maran, who controls the Sun TV network, Maxis owner Ananda Krishnan and CEO Ralph Marshal, who is also of Sri Lankan Tamil origin, having Canadian citizenship.

The CBI FIR accuses the Maran brothers of quid pro quo for facilitating the deal for Maxis.

According to the FIR, the media company Astro, belong to the Maxis Group, had invested around Rs 600 crore (Rs 6 billion) in a Sun network venture in 2007.

The heat is now on Chidambaram after Janata Party President Dr Subramanian Swamy revealed financial transactions between companies 'controlled' by the home minister's son Karti and Siva.
Janata Party President Dr Subramanian Swamy

What is P Chidambaram's alleged role?

At a press conference in New Delhi on April 26, Dr Swamy released a set of documents related to Karti Chidambaram 'controlled companies.' Karti owned more than 94 per cent shares in a company called Ausbridge Holdings and Investments Private Limited.

Karti resigned from the company a few days after Dr Swamy revealed the 12 companies where he was a director. The sudden resignation from Ausbridge tempted Dr Swamy to dig further.

Ausbrdige owns 67 percent shares in another company -- Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited. According to its old balance sheet, before March 31, 2006, it had given Rs 26 lakh (Rs 2.6 million) as loans and advances to Siva's Aircel Televenture Ltd.

Those days this company held two mobile phone service providing companies -- Aircel Ltd and Aircel Cellular Ltd.

This transaction took place during the period when the Foreign Investment Promotion Board, which reported to Chidambaram, then India's finance minister, was processing the Aircel-Maxis deal.

Dr Swamy alleges this was a payment by 'Karti-controlled Advantage to acquire five percent shares in Siva's Aircel Televenture, which received around Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) from Maxis.'

He further alleged then finance minister Chidambaram delayed the clearance till his son received shares in Siva's company, which pocketed the Malaysian investment.

Reacting to Dr Swamy's allegations, two days later, the finance ministry said there was no delay on Chidamabaram's part to clear the deal.

The government said the FIPB meeting chaired by Chidambaram cleared the Maxis investment of 74 percent shares in Aircel on March 7, 2006.

The approval was for enhancing 26 percent shares to 74 percent in Aircel. The government said Maxis, through its Mauritius-based subsidiary Global Communication Services Holding Ltd, acquired Aircel.

But the FIPB records say otherwise. According to it, item No: 7 of the FIPB meeting approved one Century Telephone from US and Rediongton Pte Ltd from Singapore to acquire 74 percent in Aircel and approval was for enhancing 49 percent shares to 74 percent.

The value of foreign investment was shown as just Rs 180 lakh (Rs 18 million).

Another FIPB meeting on October 3, 2006 says (as item No: 15 and 16) the government approved GCSHL to acquire 74 percent in Aircel and its associate company Dishnet.

Interestingly, there was no mention about the value of the foreign investment. Now the government says there were two approvals and the second approval (October 3, 2006) was an approval for downstream investment.

Another controversy is that Maxis declared to the Malaysian Stock Exchange that it had acquired 99.7 percent shares in Aircel. This is a clear violation of Indian law.

According to Indian law, the maximum permissible level of foreign investment in the telecom sector is 74 percent.

There is another controversy over the huge variation of price in shares allotted to the Apollo Hospitals group, comparing the price of shares allotted to Maxis.

On these two issues, Chidambaram told the Rajya Sabha: 'The law will take its course.' He denied all allegations against him and his son.

Karti, second from right, and P Chidambaram, right. with Congress President Sonia Gandhi, left

How much money travelled to and from Karti Chidambaram's bank accounts?

Advantage (controlled by Karti's Ausbridge) paid Rs 26 lakh (Rs 2.6 million) to Siva's Aircel Televenture before March 31, 2006. No specified date of transaction is available.

P Chidambaram said during 2006, Advantage was not controlled by Karti's Ausbridge. But BJP MP Arun Jaitley countered this argument by producing documents showing that the same e-mail IDs were used by both companies.

Chidambaram's argument in the Rajya Sabha was that this payment was related to 'some consultancy services.' Opposition MPs countered that the payment is shown as loans and advances by Karti's company to Siva's company.

The MPs claimed Karti had paid money to subscribe to shares in Siva's company, terming the FIPB clearances as a dubious one.

Dr Swamy alleged that there was a corresponding share increase in Siva's balance-sheets, after it received money from Karti-controlled Advantage.

What is the link between Dayanidhi Maran and Karti Chidambaram?

Maran was telecom minister and Karti's father was finance minister when this controversial deal took place.
P Chidambaram addresses a press conference

What are the grey areas in Dr Swamy's allegations?

Dr Swamy produced documents accessed from the Registrar of Companies which shows Karti-controlled company Advantage's payment of Rs 26 lakh (Rs 2.6 million) as loans and advances to Siva's Aircel Televentures.

Dr Swamy has not produced documents to prove that Advantage received shares from Siva's company.

This financial transaction occurred when the file on the Aircel-Maxis deal were pending with the FIPB, reporting to Chidambaram, then India's finance minister.

This can be prima facie evidence, considering the violations, illegalities in the FIPB clearance.

It is not the job of Dr Swamy or the Opposition parties to prove or provide all set of documents. The exact financial transactions and motives can only be proved through a CBI or Enforcement Directorate probe.

The FIR has been already registered, so it is not difficult for the government to investigate Dr Swamy's allegations against Chidambaram.

The government has not yet issued a satisfactory response on the FIPB approval controversy.

How the CBI or ED can probe a matter alleged to have the home minister's alleged involvement is a different question.

What will happen next?

The Opposition is not satisfied with the government's replies on this regard.

On July 17, the Supreme Court will hear the case filed by Dr Swamy. His main demand is that the CBI should probe Chidambaram's role in the approval of the Aircel-Maxis deal. He alleged that the CBI probe is only limited to the Marans in the Aircel-Maxis scam and that is not enough for a fair trial.

This FAQ was created with inputs from investigative reporter J Gopikrishnan


http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-explained-controversy-over-chidambaram-aircel-maxis/20120515.htm

Aircel-Maxis, Devas-Antrix cases should go to JPC: CPI(M)
Press Trust of India / New Delhi May 15, 2012, 17:25

The CPI(M) today said the Aircel-Maxis and the Devas-Antrix telecom cases should be referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee probing the telecom scam.

"The government should find out whether any company bought shares more than the law permits.... The government should reply, the matter should go to the JPC," party leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters in response to question on the Aircel-Maxis scam, in which the Opposition has alleged that P Chidambaram and his family members were involved, a charged denied by the Home Minister.

"The Minister has to reply to the charge. It is not just a matter of personal condonation or condemnation," he said.

Chidambaram has denied any illegality by any member of his family or himself and said the company in question could be probed by Finance Ministry.
To questions on the CAG report on the Devas-Antrix scandal, Yechury said the report too should be "subjected to inquiry of the JPC".

Asked about the cartoon controversy that has figured in both Houses of Parliament, he said the issue was not against cartoons. "We need humour and public figures will become the subject of cartoons. If a politician ceases to be that, then he ceases to be in politics."

He and his party colleague Basudeb Acharia said the real issue was whether the cartoons, appearing in school text books, had any relevance to make them understand political science, whether the context was properly understood by them or some other message was conveyed to the young minds.
http://www.business-standard.com/generalnews/news/aircel-maxis-devas-antrix-cases-should-go-to-jpc-cpim/8629/