India names Diageo, Sequoia Capital in case alleging suspicious payments

* Diageo, Sequoia Capital face influence-peddling investigation * Diageo made payment to lift ban on duty-free items -agency * Sequoia made payments for investment approval -agency By Arpan Chaturvedi NEW DELHI, Jan 10 - India's federal investigating agency has accused liquor giant Diageo and Sequoia Capital of making suspicious payments to a politician's firm to seek favourable government decisions, it said in a document Reuters reviewed on Friday. In the document, the Central Bureau of Investigation says Diageo Scotland made a suspicious fund transfer to Indian politician Karti Chidambaram's firm after a 2005 ban on sale of its duty-free products hit sales of its Johnnie Walker whisky. "In order to lift the ban, Diageo Scotland approached Karti P Chidambaram," the agency said in the document, part of its formal case registered against Diageo and Sequoia, after an investigation launched in 2018 into investment approvals. Separately, the CBI case document accused the Mauritius unit of Sequoia Capital of suspicious transactions with the firm of Karti Chidambaram, who was in a position to influence public servants to secure approval for an Indian investment in 2008.