MALAYSIAN tycoon T. Ananda Krishnan and his key aide, Ralph Marshall, have been named in a charge by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged bribery in the Aircel-Maxis deal, the Times of India reports.

Ananda, one of Malaysia’s richest people, owns a majority stake in Maxis. 

Also charged are 10 other local politicians and government officials, including Congress leader P. Chidambaram and his son, Karti.

Chidambaram is accused of abusing his power while he led the finance ministry in March 2006 when Maxis applied to India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for approval to buy a stake in Aircel. 

Chidambaram approved Maxis’ Rs3,200 crore (RM1.9 billion) investment, when he was only authorised to clear amounts not more than Rs600 crore.

The CBI said the deal’s value, inclusive of premium, was Rs32 crore, which had been reflected in Maxis’ proposal, but was not reported by the FIPB.

FIPB only reported the face value of the shares at Rs1.8 billion.

This failure of disclosure prevented the deal from being referred to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, as required by regulations. 

Chidambaram was involved in the whole process and gave oral instructions on a few occasions, the CBI alleged.

“Everyone knew it was an illegal proposal, yet it was approved at the FM’s level on March 13, 2006,” the CBI said. 

Investigators also alleged that kickbacks were received by Karti through companies controlled by him.

Others charged include former economic affairs secretary Ashok Jha, former FIPB additional secretary Ashok Chawla, and Indian Administration Service (IAS) officials Sanjay Krishna and Deepak Kumar Singh.

The Times of India reported that Chidambaram is the second minister to be charged over the Aircel-Maxis deal, after telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran who allegedly forced the Aircel sale to Maxis.

In February, it was reported that Aircel filed for bankruptcy with India’s National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), after earlier attempts by Ananda to inject a cash infusion failed.

Aircel was said to have been negotiating with lenders since last year over a Rs15,500 crore (RM9.48 billion) debt.

In April, India’s The Economic Times reported that Ananda was able to pump in around Rs95 crore (RM56.42 million) to pay employees’ salaries at Aircel and to meet other expenses for about 1½ years, pending appointments by the NCLT to commence the corporate insolvency resolution process. – July 20, 2018.