Any report of this in Astro News? India West reported on Aug 29 that former Indian Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanidhi Maran and six others, including four companies, were last Friday charge-sheeted in the Aircel-Maxis deal case by the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) in a special court.
Besides the Maran brothers, the CBI named Ananda, Augustus Ralph Marshall, an executive, and four companies including Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd., Malaysia’s Maxis Communication Berhad, South Asia Entertainment Holding Ltd., Mauritius, and ASTRO All Asia Network plc. They are all charged with criminal conspiracy and corruption.
The charge sheet was filed before Special CBI Judge O P Saini who set Sept 11 for consideration of the charges. Former Telecom Secretary J S Sharma, who has died, was also named in the charge sheet.
The charge sheet was filed a day after the Supreme Court turned down a plea by Dayanidhi Maran to restrain the CBI from filing the charge sheet, saying investigation of the case is incomplete.
The CBI alleges that Maran “forced” Chennai-based telecom promoter C Sivasankaran to sell his stake in Aircel to Malaysia’s Maxis Group, owned by Ananda. He also then struck a deal with Maxis to buy a stake in Kalanidhi Maran-run Sun Direct TV. The deals took place when Dayanidhi Maran was the telecom minister.
The deals came to light during the investigation of the 2G spectrum scam. The following day, Reuters with a Mumbai dateline reported that the CBI has filed charges against a former minister, his media mogul brother, and a Malaysian tycoon over alleged corruption to help Malaysia’s Maxis group take control of an Indian mobile phone carrier eight years ago.
Tamil Nadu politician Dayanidhi, who was India’s telecommunications minister between 2004 and 2007; his brother billionaire Kalanithi; Malaysia’s second-richest man Ananda and his aide Ralph Marshall, are among those named in the charge sheet filed in a New Delhi court, a police spokeswoman said.
The case is separate from a massive scandal that Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) said had lost the government about US$29 billion (RM95 billion) during a 2008 telecoms permits sale process.
Another former telecoms minister and several company executives are among the accused in an ongoing trial over that case. The CBI, India’s top crime-fighting agency, started investigating the Maran brothers and Ananda in 2011 after allegations that the telecoms minister had forced the sale of mobile carrier Aircel, allowing Ananda’s Maxis to acquire a controlling stake in 2006.
“The investigation revealed that the then (telecoms minister) had allegedly abused (his) official position and constricted the business environment of Chennai-based private firm on frivolous grounds with an intent to force its exit from telecom business and its sale to Malaysia-based company,” the CBI said in a statement last Friday.
Companies controlled by billionaire Kalanithi’s Sun Group, which runs a media business including television channels and satellite TV services, had received “illegal gratification” totalling about 7.42 billion rupees (US$123 million or RM401 million), the CBI said. About 5.49 billion rupees of it was “in the garb of” the premium paid for the purchase of a stake in a Sun Group company, the agency said.
The charges against the Marans, Ananda and his aide include criminal conspiracy, the CBI said. Astro All Asia Networks Plc, Maxis Communications Bhd, South Asia Entertainment Holdings Ltd -- all part of Ananda’s business empire -- and Sun Group’s Sun Direct TV Pvt. Ltd have also been named in the police charge sheet.
Dayanidhi has previously denied any wrongdoing. Maxis had said in October 2011 that it was cooperating with the probe and was confident that the allegations against it would prove to be “unfounded and without basis”. For the integrity of Malaysians and Malaysia, let’s hope Maxis and Ananda win the case. -
Source :http://www.theantdaily.com/Top-Stories/Will-Ananda-tarnish-the-image-of-Malaysia
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