Karti Chidambaram case: ED seeks information from 14 countries to establish money trail

The Enforcement Directorate, the government's agency that investigates financial frauds and misdoings, has sought information about financial transactions of companies linked to former finance minister P Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram, from atleast 14 countries, a report by The Times of India said.

Karti Chidambaram was linked to atleast four companies during investigation into the documents found in the raids conducted by the ED. These are, namely, Advantage Strategic, Sequoia, WestBridge and others, the report said. 

While P Chidambaram had spoken out strongly against the raids when they were conducted, the ED has maintained that they were not futile and threw up important information about the 'Karti Chidambaram case'.

The 14 countries that the ED has reached out to includes, the UK, UAE, Singapore, Sri Lanka, South Africa, the British Virgin Islands, Thailand, and so on. 

According to the report, Karti was quoted in the report saying that all his assets and liabilities are duly recorded in his accounts books and his tax filings are up to date. He also said he will comply to any request for information from statutory or regulatory authorities.

The ED searched offices of Vasan Healthcare and Advantage Strategic in connection with the longstanding Aircel-Maxis deal in the 2G spectrum case and recovered several documents, including some that helped the agency connect Karti Chidamabarm to Chess Global Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, where he was a director, the report said.

Later, the premises of Chess Global was also searched. 

The ED may summon Karti Chidamabaram for questioning soon, the report says.