Karti Chidambaram Appears Before ED in Money Laundering Case Probe
Officials said Karti Chidambaram was summoned to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
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Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday, 7 February, in connection with a money laundering probe against him.
Officials said Karti Chidambaram was summoned to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
He arrived at the ED office in Jamnagar House in central Delhi at about 11 am.
Karti Received Money in INX Case: Officials
It is understood that he would be questioned in the INX Media case, officials said. The agency has alleged that Karti received money from INX Media, using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it in a case of violation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conditions to receive investment from Mauritius.
It registered a PMLA case in May 2017 to probe the issue.
Delhi HC’s Move For Chidambaram
A day before on Wednesday, Delhi High Court had allowed Congress leader P Chidambaram to place some additional documents on record in his pending anticipatory bail plea in the INX Media case lodged by the CBI.
The former finance minister has sought to place on record the printouts of several news articles published on 3 February, which state that the Law Ministry has told the Centre that CBI can be granted sanction to prosecute Chidambaram in the case.
Justice Sunil Gaur allowed the application and said the additional documents are taken on record.
The court has on 25 January, reserved the order on Chidambaram's anticipatory bail pleas in the corruption and money laundering cases relating to the INX Media scandal, lodged by the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The Congress leader has sought anticipatory bail saying that he was called for questioning by CBI only once in June 2018 and he was not even named as an accused in the FIR.
CBI and ED have opposed the anticipatory bail plea and asserted that his custodial interrogation was required in the case as he was evasive in giving answers during questioning and they required his custodial interrogation which will be qualitatively different.
In the INX Media case, the CBI had registered an FIR on 15 May, 2017 alleging irregularities in the FIPB clearance. Thereafter, the ED had last year lodged the money laundering case in this regard.
A trial court here had also on 30 May, 2018, directed the ED not to take coercive action against Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case.
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