More legal problems for Maxis in India

Application made in Delhi court to include Maxis subsidiaries in India as co-accused in major graft case.

(FMT) – An application was made at the Delhi High Court Monday to direct the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to make several subsidiary companies of Maxis Communications as accused in the Aircel-Maxis graft case.

The public interest litigation (PIL) application also wants the court to instruct the CBI to move the trial court hearing the Aircel-Maxis case for “attachment and forfeiture of shares and all the assets of Aircel Ltd”, held by Maxis Communication Berhad through its subsidiaries, till disposal of the case.

The petition to the court was made by the Society for Consumers and Investors Protection (SCIP), according to a Press Trust of India report.

The petition comes in the wake of a probe by India’s law enforcement agencies over alleged irregularities related to a 2006 Aircel-Maxis deal.

Last month Maxis’ T Ananda Krishnan and his lieutenant, Ralph Marshall, were summoned to appear before India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the second week of November.

According to an earlier report in The Economic Times, the CBI and the ED had named Ananda in the case, but had been unable to question him despite a letter rogatory sent by an Indian court to a court in Malaysia seeking assistance.

The Maxis-Aircel case is tied to a separate money laundering and graft case filed against India’s former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and several other Indian officials.

Dayanidhi is also facing charges for allegedly influencing the Maxis-Aircel deal and financially gaining from it.

Maxis Communications Bhd, which is part of Ananda’s business empire, had in 2006 bought a 74 per cent stake in India’s Aircel. Later, however, the previous owner of Aircel, C Sivasankaran, alleged that Dayanidhi had “arm-twisted” him to sell the stake to Maxis.

Maxis maintains that all its dealings have been in accordance with Indian laws.

The SCIP is also seeking directions to the Securities and Exchange Board of India, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the Department of Telecommunications, and Foreign Investment Promotion Board to set aside the approvals granted to Reliance Communications Ltd for a merger of its wireless business with that of Aircel.

The SCIP is seeking directions to the authorities to not grant any further permission for transfer of any spectrum or shares held by Aircel or for change of its management or shareholding pattern till all the accused in the case submit themselves before the special CBI court, according to the PTI report.

The petition also seeks directions to the ED to immediately institute a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in respect of the shares and all other valuable assets of Aircel and the property obtained as a result of the Aircel-Maxis deal, said the report.

A PIL is legal action which seeks to advance the cause of a minority or disadvantaged groups or individuals, or which raises issues of broad public concern.