Chidambaram to Lalu: High-profile politicians who faced probe for 'graft'

Chidambaram will today appear before CBI for questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in giving INX Media the clearance to receive foreign investment

Former finance minister P Chidambaram was on Tuesday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate, which probes financial crimes, in what is widely known as the Aircel-Maxis case. On Wednesday, Chidambaram will appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for questioning in connection with alleged irregularities in giving INX Media the clearance to receive foreign investment. 

Here is a list of high-profile politicians, including former Union ministers, who have faced probe for alleged corruption in recent times:

P Chidambaram

On Tuesday, the senior Congress leader for the first time deposed for questioning before the ED, which issued a summons to him. The agency recorded his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with the Rs 35-billion Aircel-Maxis deal, news agency PTI reported. The ED has already questioned his son, Karti.

A court has asked the ED not to take any coercive action against the senior Chidambaram or arrest him until July 10. The Congress leader says the ED action is a "crazy mixture of falsehoods and conjectures".

The case pertains to the grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd in 2006 for investment in Aircel. The agency says Chidambaram facilitated FIPB approval in the Aircel-Maxis FDI case in March 2006, even as he was authorised to approve project proposals for up to Rs 6 billion only. For any investment beyond that, the approval of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) needed to be sought.

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav escorted by police officials after being convicted by the special CBI court in fodder scam case, in Ranchi. File Photo: PTI

Lalu Prasad

In March, a special CBI court in Ranchi convicted the former railway minister in the fourth fodder scam case lodged against him about two decades ago. There are six such cases against Prasad, the chief of the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

Prasad has been in a Ranchi jail since December 2017 after his conviction in two other fodder scam cases. The RJD says the action against Prasad is a “political conspiracy”.

The fodder scam, pegged at Rs 9 billion, relates to the illegal withdrawal of money from the government treasury for the animal husbandry department in different districts of undivided Bihar in the 1990s, when the RJD was ruling the state.

From left: Former telecom minister A Raja and DMK MP Kanimozhi after they were acquitted in the 2G scam case in New Delhi on Thursday. File Photos: Reuters

A Raja and Kanimozhi

Former telecom minister A Raja and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi were acquitted by a special court in the 2G spectrum case in December 2017. The CBI, which probed the case, has, however, moved the Delhi High Court challenging their acquittal. 

Investigators say the case involves alleged preferential allotment of licences and spectrum to telecom service providers in 2008, when Raja was the telecom minister in the first term of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.

All the accused deny allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the ED.

In its chargesheet filed against Raja and others in April 2011, the CBI had alleged that there was a loss of Rs 309.84 billion to the exchequer in the allocation of 122 licences for 2G spectrum that were scrapped by the Supreme Court on February 2, 2012, according to PTI.

Suresh Kalmadi

Suresh Kalmadi

In 2016, the former parliamentarian had to decline the honourary post of lifetime president of the Indian Olympic Association in the wake of scam charges against him. Kalmadi faced the music in what is known as the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games scam and served a nine-month jail term for alleged financial irregularities.