BJP leader and former finance minister Yashwant Sinha on Friday upped the ante on the issue of home minister P Chidambaram's son Karti's alleged business interests in telecom company Aircel, saying: "We will take the issue to its logical end."
Karti Chidambaram is in the eye of a political storm amid allegations that a company he owns loaned Rs. 26 lakh to Aircel Televentures in possible return of a minority stake, whose value rose manifold because of a delayed clearance by the government.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy has alleged that there was a financial transaction of Rs. 26 lakh between Karti Chidambaram-controlled Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited to acquire shares in C Sivasankaran's Aircel Televentures "to share booty of around Rs. 4,000 crore from Malaysian company Maxis."
"There is a corresponding share increase tallying with Rs. 26 lakh can be seen in Aircel after the financial transaction with the Karti-controlled company," Swamy alleged in his letter.
"Moreover, further analysis of financial statements of concerned companies gives the impression that soon after the Aircel-Maxis deal, huge amount of more than Rs. 1,300 crore has gone out of Aircel Televentures in the form of loans, without mentioning any mandatory specifics," Swamy has alleged.Swamy has essentially alleged P Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, had delayed approving the Maxis's takeover of Aircel in 2006 only to benefit his son Karti, who would have made substantial gains by way of his holding of a 5% stake in Aircel.
{{/usCountry}}"Moreover, further analysis of financial statements of concerned companies gives the impression that soon after the Aircel-Maxis deal, huge amount of more than Rs. 1,300 crore has gone out of Aircel Televentures in the form of loans, without mentioning any mandatory specifics," Swamy has alleged.Swamy has essentially alleged P Chidambaram, as the then finance minister, had delayed approving the Maxis's takeover of Aircel in 2006 only to benefit his son Karti, who would have made substantial gains by way of his holding of a 5% stake in Aircel.
{{/usCountry}}Swamy has offered no proof to establish the precise link between Karti's interest in Aircel through a raft of companies such as Chess Management Services, Chess Healthcare Solutions and Halidon Marketing Pvt Ltd — which were owned or linked to the home minister's son.
On Thursday, the home minister dismissed Swamy's allegations as wild and baseless.
"These are wild, reckless allegations and forum of Parliament is being misused to level allegations against private citizens. Neither I nor any member of my family holds any share in Aircel or Maxis," the home minister had said in Lok Sabha, quoting his son.
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