Karti and P Chidambaram have both been questioned on several occasions by ED in connection with the case.
Officers from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned businessman and member of Indian National Congress Karti Chidambaram on Thursday in connection with the INX Media money laundering case. Karti is the son of former finance minister P Chidambaram.
"He came to the agency's office at 11:30 am and was allowed to leave at 6:30 pm," said a senior ED officer. "He was confronted with the incrementing documents the agency had recovered during various raids, but he remained evasive most of the time." He has been asked to reappear to co-operation with investigations. ED has also summoned P Chidambaram on Friday for questioning in connection with the same case. "We have found some new leads and for that we need to interrogate him," said a senior ED officer.
Karti and P Chidambaram have both been questioned on several occasions by ED in connection with the case. Both, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and ED are investigating how Karti got clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) in 2007 when his father was the finance minister.
CBI arrested him on February 28, 2018 for allegedly accepting money to facilitate FIPB clearance to INX Media. He was later granted bail. Karti's chartered accountant S. Bhaskararaman was also arrested and later released on bail.
Based on CBI's FIR, ED registered a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and alleged that there were irregularities in FIPB's clearance to Rs 305 crore routed from overseas to INX Media in 2007.
The investigation so far shows that INX Media directors Peter and Indrani Mukerjea met P. Chidambaram for FIPB clearance so that there was no hold-up or delay in their application. ED says the money received by associated entities was channelled back into Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited (ASCPL). The company is allegedly owned by Karti.
Properties worth Rs 54 crore, belonging to Karti and ASCPL, have been attached by the probe agency. Property belonging to the Mukerjeas have also been attached in connection with the case.
It was alleged that P Chidambaram had directed Indrani and Peter to meet Karti and help him in his business and also to make "foreign remittances" for FIPB clearance. Since then, Indrani – currently in jail for the alleged murder of her daughter Sheena Bora – has approached CBI and offered to turn approver in the case.
Both Chidambaram and Karti have rejected these claims, calling them political vendetta.
The INX Media case has been on the radar of investigative agencies since as early as January 2008, when the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) flagged the foreign direct investment by three Mauritius-based companies.
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