New Delhi, May 8: The newspaper Pioneer today published a report saying that the government's claim that as Finance Minister, P Chidambaram did not delay Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to the Rs 4,000 crore Aircel-Maxis deal is far from the truth.
The report said, while the actual clearance was given on October 3, 2006, the Government on April 28 claimed that FIPB cleared the Maxis acquisition of Aircel on March 7, 2006 itself.
The Pioneer report says, the government's latest defence of Chidambaram came in response to Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy's allegations that under Chidambaram as Finance Minister in 2006, the FIPB sat on the Aircel-Maxis deal for several months.
Dismissing the allegations as “totally baseless”, the Ministry of Finance on April 28 said the FIPB recommended the proposal to acquire Aircel in the meeting held on March 7, 2006 and a formal letter of approval by the Ministry was issued on March 20, 2006.
“From the fact stated above, it will abundantly clear that there was no delay whatsoever. It is unfortunate that the baseless allegations should be made without verifying facts,” said the Ministry of Finance on April 28 giving the entire timeline of approval.
However, The Pioneer reports that it was the government, which either did not verify the facts or deliberately concealed it to save Chidambaram.
According to the report, the documents show that the FIPB recommended the deal only on October 3, 2006 in its meeting chaired by Chidambaram and the related Press release was issued only on October 17, 2006.
The report said, documents available with the newspaper and Press releases on the FIPB approvals, still available on the website of Press Information Bureau, have put the Government in a spot.
No one from the Finance Ministry has come forward to respond to clarifications sought by The Pioneer through an email questionnaire sent five days ago to the Joint Secretary of Infrastructure of Investment division, who heads the FIPB.
A senior official of the FIPB said: “Please don't drag us into this politically sensitive issue.”
Coming out with a fresh expose into the deal where former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran's role is under CBI probe, Swamy alleged that a company controlled by Chidambaram's son Karti got five per cent stake in Sivasankaran's Aircel Televentures to corner part of Rs 4,000 crore that the Maxis paid for 74 per cent stake in Aircel.
It was alleged that Chidambaram withheld the FIPB clearance to the deal till his son got the five per cent shares in Siva's company.
Reacting to the allegations, the Finance Ministry issued a detailed Press release titled — “Government denies allegations.”
“Allegations have been made that the proposal of M/s Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, Mauritius (a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Maxis Communications Berhad) to acquire 73.99 per cent equity in M/s Aircel Ltd was delayed by the then Finance Minister in order to benefit certain persons.
“On 7.3.2006, the matter was placed before the meeting of the FIPB. DoT conveyed its support to the proposal at the meeting. FIPB recommended the proposal for approval on 7.3.2006 and file was moved by Deputy Secretary on 10.3.2006.
"The minutes of the FIPB meeting were placed before the then Finance Minister on 13.3.2006 and he approved the same.
"The formal letter of approval was issued by the Ministry of Finance on 20.3.2006. From the facts stated above, it will be abundantly clear that there was no delay whatsoever.
"It is unfortunate that baseless allegations should be made without verifying the facts,” claimed the government press release.
According to this Press release, the FIPB, under Chidambaram, approved the proposal in just two-and-a-half months.
But the Pioneer report says, no such proposal was tabled in the March 7, 2006 meeting of the FIPB. A Press release dated March 14, 2006 still on the PIB website, has no mention of the Aircel-Maxis deal.
The vital information that Government concealed is that at the March 7, 2006 meeting of the FIPB, clearances were given to another company with a similar name.
The company was BT Global Communication (Mauritius) Ltd.
It was only on October 3, 2006 that the FIPB meeting, chaired by Chidambaram, cleared the deal.
Item number 15 and 16 of the October 17, 2006 Press release available at the PIB website states about the FIPB clearance to the Maxis investment in Sivasankaran's companies Aircel and Dishnet.
The FIPB also did not show the amount of foreign investment and kept the concerned column blank.
Normally, all FIPB clearances would specify the value of foreign investment.
