New Delhi, Feb. 27 -- The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has received prosecution sanction against senior Congress leader and former Union finance minister P Chidambaram in two separate money laundering cases related to the Aircel-Maxis and INX Media deals, the agency said on Thursday, adding it has submitted the sanction before a court to expedite the trial. Both the Aircel-Maxis and INX Media deals took place during the Congress-led UPA regime, when Chidambaram was the finance minister. ED filed a charge sheet in the Aircel-Maxis case in 2018 and in the INX Media case in 2020, naming the senior Congress leader in both of them. The court took cognisance of the charge sheets in 2021. The trial in both the cases was stayed by courts for lack of prosecution sanction under section 197 (1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) - now Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). The prosecution sanction order has been placed before the special court, Rouse Avenue by ED to expedite the trial in both the cases, the agency said. Chidambaram did not respond to HT's request for a comment. ED alleged that the former finance minister granted foreign investment promotion board (FIPB) approval to Aircel-Maxis in lieu of quid pro quo as foreign investor (Maxis) applied for its foreign direct investment approval to the tune of $800 million (Rs.3,565.91 crore). The competent authority for this approval was the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. "However, as part of a larger conspiracy, approval was fraudulently and dishonestly granted by P Chidambaram on March 20, 2006 who was competent to approve FDI proposals involving total investment of Rs.600 crore or less," ED said. The agency added that its probe found that illegal gratification of Rs.1.16 crore was received by Chidambaram's son and Congress lawmaker Karti Chidambaram in his companies - Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd (ASCPL) and Chess Management Services. In the INX Media case, ED filed two charge sheets naming Chidambarams. ED alleged that INX was given FIPB approval for which illegal gratification was received through entities beneficially owned or controlled by Karti....