INX Media case: ED to quiz Karti Chidambaram today
Both ED and CBI are probing how Karti Chidambaram managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father was the Finance Minister.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Karti Chidambaram today at 11 am for questioning in the INX Media money laundering case, an official said.
Karti Chidambaram, who is the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, has been questioned on several occasions in the case being probed by the ED as well as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Both the agencies are probing how Karti Chidambaram managed to get clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father was the Finance Minister.
On February 28, 2018, Karti was arrested by the CBI for allegedly accepting money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media. He was later granted bail.
Karti's chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman was also arrested and released on bail later.
The agency has also questioned senior Chidambaram twice in the case for giving FIPB clearance to the INX group.
The ED had registered a PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) case based on a CBI FIR and alleged that irregularities took place in the FIPB clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007.
The ED probe so far showed that for the FIPB approval, INX Media directors Peter and Indrani Mukerjea met P Chidambaram so that there was no hold-up or delay in their application.
The ED has said that the money so received by the associated entities was channelled back into the Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited (ASCPL).
The ED has attached properties worth Rs 54 crore belonging to Karti and a firm in the case. It has also attached properties belonging to the Mukerjeas in connection with the same case.
INX Media was once owned by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, prime suspects in the money laundering case. Karti is connected to the INX Media bribery case regarding various clearances given to the company.
Courtesy : India Today