Aircel-Maxis case: Chidambaram appears before ED for second time
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the second round of questioning in the AircelMaxis money laundering case, officials said.
The senior Congress leader arrived at the ED’s headquarter annexe office in New Delhi shortly before 11 am, they said. He was summoned for on Tuesday after he was first questioned on June 5 by the agency, a department that reported to him during his tenure in the finance ministry. The investigating officer of the case is expected to record Chidambaram’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) on Tuesday, like the last time, they added.
It is understood that the agency wants to put across a fresh set of questions to him regarding the deal and decisions taken by him. The agency had recorded his statement for six hours on various aspects last time. The ED had earlier recorded statements of the now-defunct Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) officials when this deal took place and it is expected that Chidambaram may be confronted with these too.
Some specific queries on circumstances and procedures adopted by the FIPB while giving approval to the AircelMaxis deal during his tenure were reported to have been put to him last time, they said. Chidambaram’s son Karti has already been questioned by the ED in this case, twice.
After leaving the ED office on June 5, Chidambaram had tweeted that all answers he gave to the probe agency were already recorded in government documents. He also had said that there is no FIR, yet a probe had been initiated.