The Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has denied any delay by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in granting clearance to the telecom deal between Aircel-Maxis. Making a statement in both houses of Parliament yesterday, Mr. Mukherjee also said, the records of the FIPB have been perused and it has been found that the application was processed in the normal course of time.

Mr Mukherjee said, allegations have been made that the then Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had delayed the proposal of Global Communication Services Holdings Limited, Mauritius to acquire 73.99 per cent equity in Aircel Limited in order to benefit certain persons. He said the ministries and departments concerned took the normal time of four to six weeks to offer their comments. Mr. Mukherjee also said, there is no scope for any misunderstanding or misinterpretation of the contents of both the letters of approval issued in 2006.

Earlier, Home Minister P. Chidambaram categorically denied that any member of his family owned any share in any telecom company at any point of time directly or indirectly.