New Delhi: Within less than a month of being released from Tihar Jail after getting bail in the INX Media money laundering case, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram was on Friday once again questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with some alleged irregularities in purchase of Air India aircraft in UPA regime. "Chidambaram was questioned by ED in connection with money laundering probe into alleged aviation-related financial irregularities said to have occurred during the UPA dispensation," official told news agency PTI.

Chidambaram's statement was recorded under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The case pertains to alleged losses suffered by Air India due to the alleged multi-crore aviation scam and irregularities in fixing air slots for international airlines.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe in this case also relates to the purchase of 111 aircraft, costing about Rs 70,000 crore, for the national airline. A senior ED official told news agency IANS that the senior Congress leader was questioned by ED for over six hours today in the ongoing probe into the Air India deal with Airbus.

This is the first time the ED has questioned the senior Congress leader in the Air India deal case. An ED official said the contract to buy 43 aircraft from Airbus was finalised by a panel of ministers headed by Chidambaram in 2009.

According to the ED, when the proposal to buy 43 aircraft from Airbus was sent to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), there was a condition that the aircraft manufacturer would have to build training facilities and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) centres at a cost of Rs 70,000 crore. But later, when the purchase order was placed, the clause was removed.

The name of another UPA minister, Praful Patel, had also come up in the alleged scam in a chargesheet filed by the ED against corporate lobbyist Deepak Talwar on March 30 last year. Talwar was arrested last year by the ED after he was deported from the UAE.

The ED is probing the Air India-Indian Airlines merger; purchase of 111 aircraft from Boeing and Airbus at Rs 70,000 crore; ceding profitable routes and schedules to private airlines, and opening of training institutes with foreign investment.

The questioning of Chidambaram came for the first time since his release from the Tihar jail where he spent 106 days in connection with the INX media money laundering case. He was released from Tihar on December 4 last year after he was granted bail by the Supreme Court.

(With inputs from agencies)