P Chidambaram terms ED raids on son Karti’s houses as ‘comedy of errors’

Hours after the Enforcement Directorate officials conducted raids at the houses of ex-Union minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram, the senior Congress leader termed the entire exercise as ‘comedy of errors’.

Addressing the media on the issue, Chidambaram said that, ‘There is no FIR concerning a scheduled crime by CBI or any agency. I anticipated they'll search premises in Chennai again but in a comedy of errors they came to Jor Bagh (in Delhi) and officers told me that they thought Karti is an occupant of this house but he is not.’

Meanwhile, Karti Chidambaram’s lawyers  said nothing was found and nothing was seized from their client’s homes.

‘The ED conducted a raid today. Nothing was found, nothing was seized. The raid concluded at 10.45 am,’ Karti's lawyer Arun Natrajan told media. He also said this was not an enquiry but just a raid, and kept emphasising that nothing was found or seized.

‘It was a raid conducted under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA),’
 said Arun Natrajan. 

According to sources, the ED officials reached there at 7.30 am. There were about five officials at their residence. In October last year, during investigation ED found that Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval given by P Chidambaram in Aircel-Maxis case was beyond his mandate.

The law enforcement agency, in its investigation, also found that the amount for FIPB approval was wrongly projected to conceal the facts. It also found that the company promoted by Karti and P Chidambaram's nephew allegedly received two lakh dollars from Maxis Group in guise of software consultancy.

The Aircel-Maxis deal refers to a series of allegations of kickbacks in the telecom sector, which was part of the wider 2G scam that engulfed the UPA regime. In 2011, former Aircel head C Sivasankaran complained to the CBI that he was being forced by then telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran to sell Aircel to the Malaysia-based Maxis Communications group owned by T Ananda Krishnan.

The Congress has also slammed the raids. ‘Not surprised by the malicious vendetta being unleashed against senior Congress leaders including P Chidambaram and his son. Everyday PM Modi and his govt use ED and CBI as captive puppets to seek revenge from opposition,’ Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said.