ED assures HC no coercive action against Karti Chidambaram till July 12

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday orally assured the Delhi High Court that no coercive action will be taken against Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram till July 12, when his anticipatory bail plea in the alleged Chinese Visas scam will be taken up for hearing.

Justice Jasmeet Singh also asked the ED to file a status report on the matter before the next date of hearing. At the request of counsel for Karti and ED, the court listed the matter for further hearing on July 12. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, representing the ED, orally assured the court that nothing will happen till July 12.

“I will not make a statement but it is understood that nothing will happen till then. My understanding is only till the 12th (of July),” he said, adding that there is no apprehension of the arrest.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Karti, urged the court to grant interim protection from arrest to Karti till the next date of hearing. Karti had approached the high court after his anticipatory bail plea and that of two others was dismissed by the trial court on June 3 on the ground that the offence was of a very serious nature.

ED has registered the money laundering case against Karti and others in the alleged scam pertaining to the issuance of a visa to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister. ED has said that the actual magnitude or volume of the processed or laundered amount of money in the case was yet to be established during the investigation and the bribe amount of Rs 50 lakh in the CBl case cannot be taken or considered as the basis of the present case. The agency has registered its case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act taking cognisance of a recent FIR by the CBI in the same case.

The ED had earlier opposed the anticipatory bail plea, saying he cannot file the application on a figment of imagination that does not show any genuine apprehension of his arrest. The ED had said the application is premature as the investigation has not yet begun in the matter and even Karti has not been summoned yet.