Rajeshwar Singh, top Enforcement Directorate (ED)officer who was investigating corruption charges leveled against P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram, has now finally spoken up. He has written a sensational letter in which he said that Chidambaram has made his life hell. In a letter accessed by Republic TV, Rajeshwar Singh has written, “Mr P Chidambaram made my life an accentuated hell as I was investigating him and his son Karti. An attempt was made to remove me from the investigations… Mr Chidambaram sported an open and direct grudge against the undersigned.”
#AircelMaxis case: #ED officer #Rajeshwar Singh's strong letter to Revenue Secretary, stating fixers and pimps still get access to corridors of power & that he wonders over the Secretary's animosity siding with scamsters after P Chidambaram made his life hell. pic.twitter.com/g8NQsUyOOA
— Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) June 27, 2018
P. Chidambaram first faced trouble in the Aircel-Maxis scam in 2014, when the CBI in its charge-sheet against the former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and the other accused had stated that it was investigating how the former finance minister, Chidambaram had granted Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a deal involving a foreign firm while it is only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) that could have granted such an approval.
It has been alleged that P. Chidambaram granted approval to benefit his son Karti Chidambaram. Karti Chidambaram was arrested by CBI in February in connection with the Aircel Maxis case. Currently, Karti is out on bail. Karti is also facing a probe in the INX media case.
This year in June, ED filed 4,500 page chargesheet against Karti Chidambaram in which it highlighted the alleged role of former finance minister as part of the conspiracy in the Aircel-Maxis scam. It was alleged in the charge-sheet that in order to grant an FIPB approval to the Malaysian company Maxis that invested Rs. 3,500 crore in Aircel, acquiring its shares the then finance minister Chidambaram had “wrongly” projected the investment by Maxis as an investment of merely Rs. 180 crore.
If whatever ED officer wrote in his letter is true then it means Chidambaram tried his level best to influence the whole investigation process. The ED officer who was investigating the Aircel-Maxis has alleged that P. Chidambaram sported an open and direct grudge against him. In his letter, Rajeshwar Singh also made sensational charges against his bosses and accused them of siding with scamsters and their affiliates. He writes, “What thoroughly baffles the undersigned, is the animosity you have fashioned against me by siding with scamsters and their affiliates in a sustained manner. It has become more than difficult for me to survive this continued onslaught and persistent vilification from all the quarters for doing my job.”
Subramanian Swamy accused the Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia-led Gang of Four officers for attempting to end the services of Rajeshwar Singh to save the former Finance Minister from Aircel-Maxis Scam. Swamy also stated that the charges against Rajeswar Singh being an ISI agent are manufactured and bogus. Later, the ED also issued a statement giving a clean chit to Rajeshwar Singh, rebutting the manufactured RAW input of 2016, dubiously produced by the Finance Ministry.
Enforcement Directorate backs outstanding Officer Dr. Rajeshwar Singh. Having met Dr. Singh few years ago, I can say publicly that he is a very seasoned and a competent officer. pic.twitter.com/BiQK8fCImD
— Aditya Raj Kaul (@AdityaRajKaul) June 27, 2018
Subramanian Swamy in a press conference said, “Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia-led Gang of Four is playing all frauds against honest ED officer Rajeshwar Singh and intimidating him for charge sheeting Chidambaram. This Gang of Four is trying to destabilize our Government’s fight against corruption and destabilize Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”
He further said, “Hasmukh Adhia, who was caught for accepting gold biscuits from fugitive Nirav Modi is trying to settle scores against the Enforcement Directorate. Adhia was hushing-up the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and Income Tax report against Nirav Modi for more than year.” He also asked PM Modi to take strict action against indulged in obstructing the corruption cases. He has also declared to expose the three members of gang of four and their links with Congress leaders like Chdambaram and Ahmed Patel in his function in Mumbai on 8th July, reports Pgurus.
The congress party and its leaders think they own the system and institutions as if the entire country is their father’s fiefdom and they can get away with anything. It seems that the past has come back to haunt P. Chidambaram and the Congress right before the upcoming 2019 general elections. It seems that things are going to get tough for Chidambaram and the Congress from here on.