ED FILES MONEY LAUNDERING CASE AGAINST KARTI CHIDAMBARAM

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Congress member of Parliament Karti Chidambaram and others in connection with alleged irregularities in issuing visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P. Chidambaram was the home minister, officials said on Wednesday.

The ED has filed the case under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) taking cognizance of a recent first information report (FIR) registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the same case, they said.

The case pertains to allegations of ₹50 lakh being paid as kickbacks to Karti and his close associate S. Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab, the CBI FIR had said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation had raided the premises of the Chidambaram family and arrested Bhaskararaman last week, even as Karti Chidambaram is expected to depose before it for questioning.

This is the third money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram with the INX Media and Aircel-Maxis cases being probed by the Enforcement Directorate for some years now.

The Enforcement Directorate will probe the possible “proceeds of crime” that could have been generated by the alleged illegal activity in the visa case, they said.

The accused involved in the case will be questioned as part of the investigation, officials said.

Chidambaram has denied all allegations. In a statement posted on his Twitter handle on Tuesday, he said, “if this is not harassment, not a witch hunt, then what is. I have full faith in the judiciary of our great country and trust the institution to stand by the truth,” he said.