Senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram is likely to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday in connection with the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case.
Chidambaram was questioned for the first time in the case by the ED on June 5. He was again summoned for June 12 as the agency wanted to put across a fresh set of questions to him regarding the deal.
The former minister, however, was given protection from arrest by the ED till July 10 by the Patiala House Court.
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The agency had earlier recorded statements of FIPB officials and it is expected that the Congress leader may be confronted with their statements.
Chidambaram's son Karti has already been questioned twice by the ED in this case.
Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had questioned Chidambaram in the INX Media case a day after he appeared before the ED.
What is Aircel-Maxis case?
The Aircel-Maxis case pertains to grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to firm M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd in 2006 for investment in Aircel.
The Supreme Court had on March 12 directed the investigating agencies—the CBI and the ED— to complete their probe into the 2G spectrum allocation cases, including the Aircel-Maxis alleged money laundering case, in six months.
The agency had said that the FIPB approval in the Aircel-Maxis FDI case was granted in March 2006 by Chidambaram even though he was competent to accord approval on project proposals only up to Rs 600 crore and beyond that it required the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA).
The agency said its probe revealed that the case of the said FDI was "wrongly projected as an investment of Rs 180 crore so that it need not be sent to the CCEA to avoid a detailed scrutiny". The ED is probing the Aircel-Maxis deal under the PMLA after taking cognisance of a 2011 CBI FIR in the case.
Chidambaram's son Karti was arrested on February 28 at the Chennai airport upon his return from the United Kingdom, for his alleged role in the case. Currently, he is on bail.
In September last year, the ED had attached assets worth Rs 1.16 crore of Karti and a firm allegedly linked to him in connection with this case.
With inputs from PTI