ED summons officers of firm linked to son of Chidambaram

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned two directors of a firm linked to former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti in connection with its probe into the money laundering charges in the Aircel-Maxis case.

The summons have been sent to Advantage Strategic after a probe found the firm sent Rs 26 lakh to Aircel Televentures. However, Karti said: “Neither I nor my company or any company where I am shareholder has received any ED summons.”

The ED case is based on the charge sheet filed by the CBI. Earlier, it had questioned former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and his brother Kalanithi in the case.

The case came up after CBI investigations claimed Maran had “abused (his) official position and constricted” the business environment of Aircel on “frivolous grounds” with intent to “force its exit” from the telecom business and its sale to Maxis.

Aircel initially wanted to sell to Hutchison Essar Limited, but Maran reportedly kept the matter pending.

Sources said the ED is probing the financial transactions of the Karti-linked company with Aircel ahead of the latter getting an approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).