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A view of Karthik Chidambaram’s house in Jor Bag, which is sealed by IT department, in New Delhi, Thursday. (PTI)[/caption]
New Delhi, Oct. 11 (IANS): The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it has attached properties worth INR 54 crore belonging to former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram and a firm in connection with the INX Media money laundering case.
Karti Chidambram described the agency’s move as “bizarre and outlandish” and said he would take legal action against it.
A senior ED official told IANS: “We have attached six properties of Karti worth INR 54 crore.”
The properties include a cottage worth INR 8.67 crore in the UK’s Somerset, a tennis club and land located in Spain’s Gava worth INR 14 crore.
Explaining the procedure to attach the foreign asstes, the official said: “We would get the Letter Rogatories (a judicial request) from competent authorities for legal formalisation of foreign assets under Section 5 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002).”
Besides the foreign properties, the ED also attached land and properties worth Rs 16 crore in New Delhi’s Jor Bagh, in which Karti’s mother Nalini Chidambaram is a 50 per cent stakeholder, and two bungalows in Tamil Nadu’s Ooty -- one worth INR 50 lakh and another INR 3.75 crore, besides an agricultural land worth INR 25 lakh in Kodaikanal in the same state.
Fixed deposits belonging to the firm Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt. Ltd. (ASCPL) worth INR 90 lakh, kept in a Chennai bank, were also attached. The assets are in the name of Karti Chidambaram and ASCPL -- the firm allegedly linked to him.
The ED has also attached properties belonging to Peter and Indrani Mukerjea in connection with the same case.
The ED said the investigation conducted so far shows that for the approval of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), Peter and Indrani Mukerjea met then
Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, so that there was no hold-up or delay in their application.
“During the investigation, it was admitted that debit notes were raised on the directions of Karti Chidambaram to show some transactions which in fact did not occur,” the agency alleged.
“The funds received by ASCPL were invested and ASCPL also purchased shares of Vasan Health Care. A part of these shares were sold at a profit of nearly Rs 41 crore. ASCPL also earned Rs 18.49 crore from sale of shares in another company for Rs 29.49 crore. These funds arising from the sale of laundered property were also used in money laundering,” it said.
Karti is facing probes by the ED and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in several cases, including alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to then INX Media for FDI in 2007 and the Aircel-Maxis case in 2006 and a money laundering case.
Karti Chidambaram was arrested on February 28 by the CBI for allegedly taking money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007. He was later granted bail.