New Delhi, Jul 21: The CBI on Wednesday questioned a Singapore-based senior executive of Standard Chartered Bank in connection with the takeover of Aircel by the Maxis group—the deal in which allegations of coercision by Maran family were levelled by former Aircel Chief C Sivasankaran.
Rahul Goswamy, Global head of Strategic Client Coverage group based in Singapore, who was earlier scheduled to appear on July 13 when some officials of bank were quizzed but could not do so because of prior engagements, appeared today to provide the agency the information on the deal.
“CBI had sought some information about a deal. He was there to provide the same to the agency,” Arijit De, Head of Bank's External Communications, South Asia, told PTI. Sivasankaran had alleged in a statement before the agency that he was forced to sell his stake in Aircel by Maran and his brother Kalanidhi at a very cheap price to Malaysia-based Maxis, which is considered closed to Marans.
The agency has registered a preliminary enquiry into sale of telecom spectrum during 2001-07 and is probing the allegations under it as Dayanidhi was Telecom Minister between 2004-07 in the UPA-I Government.
Sources in the agency said Standard Chartered was the banker in the deal in which Maxis bought 74 per cent stake in Aircel. They said documents from the bank could provide crucial details about the financial transactions.
The allegations have been refuted by Dayanidhi who maintains that he did not play any role in the deal. PTI
