No bail for Marans in Aircel-Maxis case: CBI, ED

The CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) opposed the bail plea of former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi and two others in a special court here on Monday.

The prosecution asked Special CBI Judge O P Saini not to grant bail to the four accused, contending that the investigations were still on in the multi-crore Aircel-Maxis deal case.
The CBI also moved a petition before the special court, pleading for issuing arrest warrants against Malaysia-based business tycoon T Ananda Krishnan and a senior executive of the Maxis group, Augustus Ralph Marshall.

It also sought the court’s permission to split the case, so that the proceedings against the Marans, Kalanithi’s wife Kaveri and managing director of the South Asia FM Ltd (SAFL) K Shanmugam will not be stalled due to the non-appearance of the foreign nationals and other companies in the case.

The two foreign nationals, who are co-accused in the case, have been evading appearance before the special CBI court despite several summons being issued against them since 2014.
The judge posted the matter to August 27. While senior Public Prosecutor Anand Grover represented the CBI and ED, senior lawyer and Congress leader Kabil Sibal appeared on behalf of Kalanithi.

“We have followed the procedure under India’s bilateral treaty with Malaysia to serve the summons to the accused. However, the summons are still lying on the Malaysian attorney general’s table. They haven’t reached the accused yet,” Grover told the court, pleading for the arrest warrants against Krishnan and Marshall.

Separate charge sheets
In its charge sheet, the CBI has accused Dayanidhi of forcing Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stake in Aircel to Malaysian-based Maxis Group, owned by Krishnan, under a criminal conspiracy in 2006.

The central agency also claimed that Maxis then made investments through Astro Network to Sun Direct TV Private Limited.

In a separate charge sheet, the ED has charged the Maran brothers, Kaveri and three other accused, including Krishnan and Marshall, of money laundering to the tune of Rs 742.58 crore.
DH News Service