INX Media Case: ED Seizes Karti Chidambaram’s Assets Worth Rs 54Cr
Karti Chidambaram has said that the “Provisional Attachment Order” was not based on “law” but “crazy conjectures”.
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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, 11 October, said it has attached assets worth Rs 54 crore of Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in India, UK and Spain in connection with the INX Media money laundering case.
The central probe agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attachment of Indian assets in Kodaikanal and Ooty in Tamil Nadu and a flat in Delhi's Jorbagh.
A cottage and house in Somerset in UK and a tennis club located in Barcelona, Spain have also been attached as part of the same order, the agency said.
Fixed deposits worth Rs 90 lakh, kept in a bank in Chennai, in the name of Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited (ASCPL) have also been attached, it said.
The assets are in the name of Karti and ASCPL, the firm allegedly linked to him. "The attached assets collectively amount to Rs 54 crore," it said.
The ED had registered a PMLA case in this deal case on the basis of a CBI FIR and had alleged that irregularities took place in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007. This is when his father, P Chidambaram, was the Union finance minister.
The ED has grilled Karti in this case in the past.
Karti Chidambaram Says Order Not Based on Law
Taking to Twitter, Karti Chidambaram said the provisional Attachment Order was “not based on law but on crazy conjectures”. Adding that the order will not stand judicial scrutiny.
(With inputs from PTI)
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