Millennium Post

CBI books Karti Chidambara­m for illegal grafts, raids his and PC’S properties

-

NEW DELHI: The CBI has registered a fresh case against Lok Sabha member Karti Chidambara­m for allegedly facilitati­ng visas of 263 Chinese nationals for a power company after receiving illegal gratificat­ion of Rs 50 lakh 11 years ago when his father P Chidambara­m was the Union Home minister, officials said on Tuesday.

CBI teams conducted coordinate­d search operations at 10 locations in multiple cities in the country, including residences of the Chidambara­ms in Chennai and Delhi early morning after registerin­g the FIR, they said. The searches spread across multiple locations in Chennai, Mumbai, Koppal (Karnataka), Jharsuguda (Odisha), Mansa (Punjab) and Delhi.

“I have lost count, how many times has it been? Must be a record,” Karti tweeted immediatel­y after the CBI raids without specifying.

Later, he further tweeted that his office has updated him about the searches. “My office has just updated on the ‘record’ twice in 2015, once in 2017, twice in 2018 and today :) 6!”

Senior Congress leader P Chidambara­m, in his tweets in Hindi and English, said a CBI team searched his residence in Chennai and his official residence in Delhi.

“The team showed me an FIR in which I am not named as an accused. The search team found nothing and seized nothing,” he said, adding: “I may point out that the timing of the search is interestin­g.” However, he did not mention what “timing” he was referring to.

In the new case, which is an offshoot of an ongoing probe in the INX media case, the CBI has alleged that Karti had allegedly received Rs 50 lakh bribe to facilitate the visa of 263 Chinese nationals during the UPA regime for Talwandi Sabo power project in July-august 2011, when his father was the Union Home minister, the officials said.

“The searches at our Punjab facility have been part of a larger CBI investigat­ion. We are extending full cooperatio­n to the authoritie­s and facilitati­ng the due process. We have no further comments,” a Talwandi Sabo Power Limited spokespers­on said.

Besides Karti, the CBI has also named his close associate S Bhaskarara­man, representa­tive of Talwandi Sabo power project Vikas Makharia who allegedly offered the bribe, the company Talwandi Sabo Power Limited, Mumbai-based Bell Tools Limited through which bribes were alleged routed and unidentifi­ed others in the FIR registered under 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 477A (falsificat­ion of accounts) and section 8 and 9 of Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.

The CBI had stumbled upon some documents from the hard drive of Bhaskarara­man showing a suspicious transactio­n of Rs 50 lakh based on which the agency had registered a preliminar­y enquiry. The findings of the preliminar­y enquiry showed enough prima facie material to register an FIR.

The agency has alleged that the Talwandi Sabo Power based at Mansa, Punjab was in the process of establishi­ng a 1980 MW thermal power plant for which establishi­ng of plant was out-sourced to a Chinese company.

The project was running behind its schedule and the company was allegedly facing prospects of penalty, CBI spokespers­on R C Joshi said in a statement.

“In order to avoid penal actions for the delay, the said private company (Talwandi Sabo) of Mansa was trying to bring more and more Chinese persons and profession­als for their site at District Mansa (Punjab) and needed Project visas over and above the ceiling imposed by Ministry of Home Affairs,” Joshi said.

The CBI has alleged Makharia, representa­tive of the power company, approached Karti through his “close associate/front man” Bhaskarara­man, officials said.

“They devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of ceiling (maximum of Project visas permissibl­e to the company’s plant) by granting permission to re-use 263 Project visas allotted to the said Chinese company’s officials,” Joshi said.

Makharia allegedly submitted a letter to Home Ministry seeking approval to re-use the project visas allotted to this company, which was approved within a month and permission was issued to the company, officials said.

“A bribe of Rs 50 lakh was allegedly demanded by said private person based at Chennai (Karti) through his close associate/front man (Bhaskarara­man) which was paid by the said Mansa-based private company (Talwandi Sabo),” Joshi said.

It has been further alleged that the payment of said bribe was routed from Talwandi Sabo to Karti and Bhaskarara­man through Mumbaibase­d Bell Tools Ltd camouflage­d as payment of false invoice raised for consultanc­y and out of pocket expenses for Chinese visas related works, the CBI FIR said.

With agency inputs.

 ?? PTI ?? CBI officials during a raid at the residence of Karti Chidambara­m, at Lodhi Estate in New Delhi, on Tuesday
PTI CBI officials during a raid at the residence of Karti Chidambara­m, at Lodhi Estate in New Delhi, on Tuesday

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India