ED chargesheet against Marans in Aircel Maxis deal, hearing on Jan 18

The Enforcement Directorate filed chargesheets against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and four others on Friday in the Special 2G court in connection with a money laundering case lodged in the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The ED filed the chargesheet before special judge OP Saini — naming the Maran brothers, Kalanithi’s wife Kavery Maran, three others, including two companies. The ED chargesheet comes nine months after the agency attached assets held by the Marans.

In April last year, ED attached Maran’s assets worth over Rs 700 crore, which the SC stayed in August. The special 2G court will hear the case on January 18. The case is related to the sale of 74 percent stake in Aircel to Maxis. Former Aircel owner C Sivasankaran claimed the Marans pressurized him to sell and over Rs 700 crore is the alleged kickback.

The complaint is a spin-off of the corruption case lodged by the CBI in the Aircel-Maxis deal.

The complaint alleged that Rs. 742.58 crore was paid for Mr. Dayanidhi Maran by two Mauritius-based companies through Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd (SDTPL) and South Asia FM Ltd. (SAFL), reports The Hindu.

The two companies are owned and controlled by Mr. Kalanidhi Maran, and the money was utilised by these companies for their business, the complaint alleged.

K. Shanmugam, managing director of SAFL, SDTPL and SAFL, has also been named as accused in the complaint.

Mr. Dayanidhi Maran obtained the proceeds of crime (Rs. 742.58 crore) by camouflaging it as capital contribution in SDTPL and SAFL and, thus, committed the offence of money laundering under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the complaint said.

SDTPL is owned and controlled by Kalanidhi Maran and Kaveri Kalanidhi. The complaint claims that this company received Rs. 549.03 crore for Dayanidhi Maran in the guise of foreign investment.

SAFL received Rs. 193.55 crore for Dayanidhi Maran by projecting it as capital contribution received by the company. The ED has already attached assets of Dayanidhi Maran, Kalanidhi Maran and Ms. Kaveri Kalanidhi and other accused equivalent Rs. 742.58 crore.

With Agencies