Delhi:
The case filed by the CBI against former Union minister Dayanidhi Maran explains in detail how Mr Maran allegedly misused his office when he was Telecom Minister to ensure mobile operator Aircel was sold to an entrepreneur who returned the favour with Rs. 549-crore kickback.
The FIR or First Information Report filed by the CBI, explains how. "An illegal gratification of Rs. 549 crore was accepted as quid pro quo through his (Maran's) brother, Kalanithi, in the garb of share premium invested in Sun TV."
Mr Maran was Telecom Minister between 2004 and 2007. In 2006, C Sivasankaran who owned Aircel sold the company to the Maxis group. Within months, the owner of Maxis, T Ananda Krishnan, who is based in Malaysia, made a whopping investment in Sun Networks, owned by the minister's brother.
The money was routed through Astro, a subsidiary of Maxis. Like Mr Ananda Krsihnan, the CEO of Astro, Ralph Marshall, has been named in the FIR.
Mr Sivasankaran says that he sold Aircel after Mr Maran deliberately delayed sanctioning 14 licenses critical to his business. After two years of being kept on hold, Mr Sivasankaran finally gave in to the pressure that the CBI agrees Mr Maran applied. The FIR states that the conspiracy behind the Aircel-Maxis transaction was "hatched in Delhi, Chennai, Mauritius and Malaysia."
The document explains how Mr Maran allegedly engineered the sale to help Maxis - in the CBI's opinion. It states that in October 2005, Mr Marshal met Mr Sivasankaran and told him that Mr Maran had told him he cleared the sale of Aircel to Maxis. A month later, Mr Maran's brother, Kalanithi met Mr Sivasankaran at the Taj Coromandel Hotel in Chennai; immediately after that meeting, Mr Maran allegedly called the Aircel owner and instructed him to sell 100% stake in Aircel to Maxis. Hours after that meeting, Mr Sivasankaran received formal offers for the takeover from Maxis.
The CBI is also investigating JS Sarma, now the head of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) - he has been questioned about his alleged role in helping Mr Maran. Mr Sarma recently said that there were no losses caused by the telecom scam, of which the Aircel-Maxis deal is one episode.
At the time, Mr Sarma was Additional Secretary in the telecom ministry. The CBI says that his senior - Nripendra Mishra - had cleared the sanction of licenses that were pending for Mr Sivasankaran. However, Mr Maran asked Mr Sarma for his opinion. The FIR finds, "JS Sarma gave a note recommending that licenses should be held back till disputes were settled - this view blocked the process of issuance of licenses." The CBI says that while it does not have proof of any quod pro quo for Mr Sarma's opinion, he later helped Mr Maran sanction the licenses after Maxis bought Aircel.
Mr Sarma refused to comment on the CBI's allegations.