The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed proceedings against Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram in a money laundering case related to the Aircel-Maxis deal of 2006.
While issuing notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the single-judge Bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri stayed the proceedings against Chidambaram till the next date of hearing.
The Congress leader had approached the High Court against the trial court order that took cognisance of a charge sheet filed by ED against the former Union Minister and his son Karti Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case.
Appearing for Chidambaram, Senior Advocate N Hariharan argued that the cognisance could not have been taken without prosecution sanction.
Senior Advocate Hariharan was assisted by Advocates Arshdeep Singh and Akshat Gupta. Advocate Zoheb Hossain appeared for the national agency.
On November 27, 2021, the trial court had taken cognisance of the charge sheets filed by the CBI and the ED against P Chidambaram and his Karti Chidambaram in the case.
The trial court had said that there was “sufficient evidence” to summon Chidambarams and other accused persons in the corruption and money-laundering cases.
The matter was related to the alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approvals granted for the foreign investment made by Malaysia-based Maxis in Tamil Nadu-based network company Aircel, during the tenure of P Chidambaram as Union Finance Minister.
As per the prosecution, both Chidambaram and his son Karti had received kickbacks to ensure FIPB clearance for the Rs 3,500 crore deal between Aircel and Maxis.
Both the CBI and Enforcement Directorate had registered cases in connection with the transaction under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), respectively.
The ED filed the complaint on June 13, 2018, while CBI filed its charge sheet in the case in July 2018.
Both the CBI and the ED had filed their respective charge sheets and complaints in the case in July 2018.