The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday filed charge sheet against former Union minister P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case.
The agency has named nine accused in the case including Chidambaram, S. Bhaskaraman and four Maxis companies.
CBI Special Judge OP Saini fixed November 26 for consideration of the charge sheet.
On October, a Delhi High court had extended the interim protection from arrest granted to former Union Minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti in the Aircel-Maxis case till November.
Chidambaram and his son were named in the charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the case on July 19.
The CBI was probing how Chidambaram, who was the Union finance minister in 2006, granted a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval to a foreign firm, when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) was empowered to do it.
The senior Congress leader's role had come under the scanner of investigating agencies in the Rs 3,500-crore Aircel-Maxis deal and the INX Media case involving Rs 305 crore.
In its charge sheet filed earlier in the case against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran, his brother Kalanithi Maran and others, the agency had alleged that Chidambaram had granted an FIPB approval in March, 2006 to Mauritius-based Global Communication Services Holdings Ltd, a subsidiary of Maxis.
The Maran brothers and the other accused named in the CBI chargesheet were discharged by the special court, which had said the agency had failed to produce any material against them to proceed with the trial.
The Enforcement Directorate is also probing a separate money-laundering case in the Aircel-Maxis matter, in which Chidambaram and Karti have been questioned by the agency.
Both Chidambaram and Karti had denied the allegations levelled against them by the CBI and the ED.
PTI
