Aircel-Maxis ghotala: SC turns up heat. Subramanian Swamy's pleas to be heard next.

The apex court ordered the CBI to seek prosecution sanction from the Government against officials involved in the case registered against former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran. The Bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi and KS Radhakrishnan also ordered that the Government should take a decision on the CBI’s application in two weeks and report back to the court by August 1. “This matter must be brought to an end to a logical conclusion,” the Bench said while posting the case for hearing on August 1.

Sources said the CBI is seeking sanction for prosecution of two telecom officials during Maran’s period. CBI admitted that their LoRs to Malaysia seeking access to and details about the Maxis owners T Ananda Krishnan and Ralph Marshall, the accused in the case, did not yield results.

Maran has been accused of forcing Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell the stake in Aircel in 2006 to a Malaysian firm Maxis Group owned by the Kuala Lumpur-based business tycoon Krishnan. Maran was the Telecom Minister between February 2004 and May, 2007.

The petitioner, Subramanian Swamy, argued for cancellation of Aircel if the Malaysian authorities were not co-operating even as he sought to cite the FIPB violations in the deal involving Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The judges said the FIPB violations part as well as non-cooperation would be presented in the next hearing of the case, after assessing the progress of CBI probe.

The Bench observed the inordinate delay in the filing of the charge sheet, in which FIR was registered on October 2011. CBI counsel KK Venugopal said they have finished probe on the Indian side but Malaysian responses were not yet received. The Bench then observed that CBI should take a call on the probe and file a charge sheet with the evidences collected. Additional charge sheets may be filed later, it said.

Swamy accused CBI of limiting the probe only on the arm-twisting aspect of Aircel promoter C Sivasankaran by Maran and ignoring the FIPB violations in approving the deal. CBI has not yet probed into Maxis acquiring 100 percent stake in Aircel, whereas only 74 per cent foreign investment is permitted in India, he said.