2G scam: ED summons Maran brothers

The Enforcement Directorate has issued summons against Maran brothers — Dayanidhi and Kalanidhi — in connection with its probe in the Aircel-Maxis deal in the 2G spectrum allocation case. The federal money laundering agency has asked DMK MP to appear before it on March 20.

The ED has registered a case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), pertaining to an alleged illegal gratification of about Rs550 crore allegedly received by Maran brothers in this controversial deal.

The ED has lodged Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on the basis of detailed report from the CBI, which is already probing Maran brother’s in the same case.

“An illegal gratification of Rs549 crore was accepted as quid pro quo through his (Maran’s) brother, Kalanidhi, in the garb of share premium invested in Sun TV,” the CBI says in its regular case (FIR).

The Maxis group, which is a Malaysia-based group owned by T Ananda Krishnan, which invested Rs680 crore in Sun Direct TV, the Maran family’s direct-to-home company. The money was routed through Astro, a subsidiary of Maxis. Like Ananda Krsihnan, the CEO of Astro, Ralph Marshall, has been named in the FIR.

Though the CBI has not been able to establish any ‘coercion’ on the part of DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran, but confirmed undue favour to Maxis after taking over Aircel from Sivashankarn. The Agency claims that Aircel was denied licenses despite availability of adequate spectrum and clearance from the defence ministry.