New Delhi:
Union Minister
Dayanidhi Maran will find it harder to hold on to his place in the Cabinet. The CBI has today said in court that a preliminary inquiry suggests that Mr Maran did misuse his office in 2006 to force the sale of Aircel to an industrialist close to the Maran family.
(Read: Who is Dayanidhi Maran?)The Prime Minister and Sonia Gandhi met in Delhi this evening. Sources say that while they may have discussed the impending Cabinet reshuffle, they have not yet decided whether to drop Mr Maran. Their priority, government sources say, is to manage the political crisis that has emerged in Andhra Pradesh as a result of bulk resignations by politicians who want a new state of Telangana to be sanctioned.
That distraction apart, Mr Maran is now in a sticky position. The CBI has said in court that it has some evidence that back the allegations made against Mr Maran by C Sivasankaran who owned Aircel till 2006. He has testified that Mr Maran refused to grant him licences needed to expand his business. Once Mr Maran sold his company to T Ananda Krishnan, the licences were processed within months. And Mr Ananda Krishnan invested close to Rs. 800 crore soon after in a company owned by Mr Maran's brother. (
Forum: Should Maran resign now?)
The CBI's inquiry shows that "despite unanimous recommendation" by Telecom officials, Mr Maran did not sign off on the licences that Mr Sivasankaran needed. The investigating agency also said that there did seem to be "an element of coercion" in the manner in which Aircel was sold to Mr Ananda Krishnan's Maxis empire.
CBI sources have told NDTV that the agency will question Mr Maran after they gather more evidence against him. Meanwhile, the PM and Sonia Gandhi are likely to discuss Mr Maran's future in the Cabinet with DMK President M Karunanidhi, who is Mr Maran's uncle.
A few days ago, Mr Maran met with the Prime Minister ahead of a much-anticipated Cabinet reshuffle. Mr Maran denied that the allegations against him were discussed by the PM.
It's not just Mr Maran who the CBI is focusing on as it ploughs ahead with its study of India's biggest swindle - the 2G scam. The CBI also said today that another telecom company - Essar - is likely to be formally charged with cheating. So far, companies like Anil Ambani's Reliance Telecom and Unitech Wireless have seen their senior-most executives imprisoned for conspiring with former Telecom Minister A Raja to acquire mobile network licences at throwaway prices. Mr Raja, who is from Mr Maran's party and has been in jail since February, succeeded Mr Maran as Telecom Minister in 2007.
Investigators say that they are uncovering evidence that Essar, owned by the Ruia family, used Loop Telecom as a front in 2008 to acquire more licences and spectrum than it was legally entitled to. Laws prohibit telecom operators from owning more than 10% in another company offering telecom services in the same circle.
CBI officials said in court that their scrutiny of the Loop-Essar deal will be completed by August 31, and a chargesheet will be filed after that. "Essar was the group behind Loop," the CBI said. "It financed the latter's application and gave a guarantee for its bank loan later. Just two days before the grant of licence, the Ruias reduced their stake in Loop to 2.15%."
Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications (RCom) has also been accused of using Swan Telecom as a front in 2008. Swan's executives are in jail; so are three of Mr Ambani's top managers.
Reliance has said that it sold its stake in Swan before the latter was granted its licence and 2G spectrum by Mr Raja. The CBI isn't buying that. It said today that Reliance's exit from Swan seems murky. "RCom sold their shares in Swan for just 4 million dollars while the valuation was 100 million dollars."