New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) The Supreme Court Wednesday asked the CBI to wrap up its probe in the Aircel-Maxis telecom deal saying that it could not go on forever.
The apex court bench of G.S. Singhvi and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan asked the probe agency to proceed prima facie on the basis of the material before it if Malaysia, where company Maxis is based, did not take a decision on sharing information with India.
Senior counsel K.K. Venugopal, appearing for the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), was asked by the court: “What would happen if Malaysia fails to take a decision” on the criminality involved in the Aircel-Maxis deal.
The CBI is investigating whether Sivasankaran – the original owner of telecom company Aircel – was forced by former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran to sell off his entire stake in the company to Malaysia-based company Maxis, owned by T. Ananda Krishnan.
After Sivasankaran sold his stakes to Maxis, a Mauritius-based company allegedly made big investments in the Maran family-owned Sun Direct channel.
The apex court noted that Aircel’s original owner Sivasankaran made six applications seeking spectrum. His applications were not entertained by the department of telecommunications (DoT), then under Maran, but things started moving soon after he sold his entire stakes in Aircel and to Maxis.
The CBI had told the apex court Nov 7, 2012 that it had completed its investigations into the allegation of wrongdoings in the Aircel-Maxi deal in the country but its foreign dimension involving source of investments from Mauritius and Malaysia were pending.
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