ED files case against Karti Chidambaram

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, and others, taking cognisance of a recent CBI FIR against them.

Officials said the central probe agency registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), ED’s equivalent of a police FIR, against the accused named in the CBI complaint including Karti, INX media and its directors, Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, and others.

The ECIR has been registered under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.They said the ED will probe the alleged “proceeds of crime” generated in this case and may also attach assets of the various accused.

It is the ED which had provided information about the alleged illegal payments made by INX media, based on which the CBI had filed its FIR.

Meanwhile, Karti Chidambaram, who is under CBI investigation for an alleged bribery and corruption case, on Thursday left for London on what his father described as a scheduled trip.“Karti is travelling as per earlier travel plans. He will return after a few days. There is no ban on his travel,” his father and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram told media here.The Chidambarams had denied all the charges made against them.

The CBI had filed an FIR against Karti and the Mukerjeas on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, receiving illegal gratification, influencing public servants and criminal misconduct.

It is alleged that Karti received money from INX Media for using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it in a case of violation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conditions to receive investment from Mauritius.The CBI had also recovered vouchers of Rs 10 lakh which were allegedly paid for the services.

These vouchers were issued in favour of Advantage Strategic Consulting (P) Limited, a firm “indirectly” owned by Karti, the CBI had alleged.