PTI New Delhi

A special court here has issued fresh summons to Malaysian telecom giant Maxis and its former director Augustus Ralph Marshall on a CBI request in connection with FIPB clearance granted to its subsidiary during the tenure of former finance minister P Chidambaram for the takeover of Aircel in 2006, officials said.

The agency has also requested the issuance of a summons to the Malaysian company Astro All Asia Network in connection with the case, which has been cleared by the special court, they said. The CBI has sought three months from the court to serve the summons in Malaysia, they said.

The probe agency had filed its first chargesheet against former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran and some others on August 29, 2014, after which the special court had issued summonses a number of times to the Malaysia-based accused, but in spite of efforts of the Indian High Commission and the Ministry of Home Affairs, they were not served.

In 2015, Senior Public Prosecutor (SSP) K K Goel had told the special CBI judge that the High Commission and the MHA have tried thrice to serve the summons."In the first set of summons, they said there was some problem. They are not cooperating. We have sent the report thrice," he had said in 2015. The special court had issued the summons in 2015 following the submissions.

Later in February 2017, the court discharged Maran and others named in the CBI charge sheet.The discharge has been challenged by the CBI in the Delhi High Court through a revision petition.The agency filed another charge sheet on July 19, 2018, against Chidambaram and others, which is still before the special court. Chidambaram has refrained from making any public comment on the issue.