CBI records versions of StanChart Bank officials

NEW DELHI: The CBI, which is probing the Maran brothers’ role in the controversial Aircel-Maxis deals, recorded the statements of three crucial witnesses - two bankers and a Chartered Accountant (CA) - from the Standard Chartered Bank’s Corporate Division, on Wednesday.The three officials, who were from the Corporate Division’s Merger and Acquisition (M&A) branch, gave statements on the financial aspects of the deal that took place in 2006-2007, when Dayanidhi Maran was the Telecom Minister.They also gave information on the amount of money that was demanded by the Aircel and finally what it got from Maxis.The amount demanded and what finally Aircel got is crucial to establish its former boss C Sivasankaran’s allegation that he lost several hundered crores in the deal when he had lucrative offers.He alleged that the Maran brothers used their political and financial clouts to armtwist him to sell off his Aircel stakes to Maxis, a company owned by T Ananda Krishnan, a Malaysiabased business tycoon.He had also alleged that the Maran brothers forced him to sell off his Aircel’s stakes at a lower price because Maxis had offered them quid-pro quo.To establish his claim, he said that within three months of the deal, Aircel’s pending 14 telecom licenses were approved.Subsequently, Maxis Group of companies announced investments to the tune of Rs 750 crore in companies controlled by the Maran brothers.The officials also handed over the documents pertaining to the communications between Aircel, SCB and Maxis. The deal had almost taken a year to get over and the bank had had several rounds of discussion with the two parties.A spokesman for Standard Chartered said: “The CBI has asked for some information related to the Aircel-Maxis transaction, and we are fully cooperating with them.” CBI spokesperson Dharini Mishra said: “The three officials were very cooperative and forthcoming. They gave us all the information that we had asked for.” As to what these officials told the agency’s sleuths, the CBI spokesperson said: “The officials had just provided records of the deal’s financial aspects. It is for us to verify whether they go with Sivasankaran’s allegations.We are in the process of doing it.” The CBI, in the recent status report to the Supreme Court’s branch monitoring the 2G case, had confirmed that it is probing Maran’s role in the Aircel- Maxis deal.Till now, the agency is conducting probe on the basis of a preliminary inquiry registered in February this year on the direction of the Supreme Court to widen the investigation in the period between 2001- 2007.