NEW DELHI: Almost five months after the CBI registered a criminal case in the Aircel- Maxis deal against Maran brothers, former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi and his brother Kalanithi, it has started the process to collect information on money trail by sending judicial requests to Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius and Bermuda.
According to a top CBI official, the Letter Rogatories (LR) are to reach these countries by March-end. The LR will focus to collect information on `547-crore investment made in Maran’s companies, Sun TV Networks, through the subsidiary companies of Maxis-group, controlled by Malaysia-based billionaire T Anand Krishnan.
The agency has named both Maran’s and Krishnan’s companies accused in the case.
The LR is a formal request issued by a competent court to a foreign country through diplomatic channels on behalf of the investigative agencies to obtain information about individuals and entities.
During investigation, the agency has found that the Maxis group had routed ‘parts’ of money into Maran’s companies through ‘offshore’ companies based in known ‘tax haven’ countries.
Sources said that the role of the Mauritius-based company is crucial in the investigation of the case as major portion of Maxis group money invested in Maran’s companies was routed through it.
Beside Maran brothers, the agency in its FIR had named chairman of Maxis Communication T Ananda Krishnan, senior executive of Astro Asia Network, Ralph Marshall, and three companies, Astro Asia Networks, Sun Direct TV and Maxis Communications.
It has alleged that Krishnan’s investments in Maran’s companies are a case of quidpro- quo because they helped former to purchase Aircel- Dishnet in 2006-07 from the then owner C Sivasankaran.
The deal took place when Dayanidhi was the telecom minister.