P Chidambaram appears before ED in money laundering case

New Delhi: Former finance minister P Chidambaram appeared before the Enforcement Directorate on Friday in connection with a money laundering probe related to INX Media.

The Congress leader, who was summoned to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), arrived at the agency’s office in central Delhi at about 11 am.

Chidambaram has been grilled a number of times in this case in the past. His son Karti was questioned by the agency in the same case on Thursday for about six hours. The ED attached Karti’s assets worth an estimated Rs 54 crore, located in India and abroad, in the case last year.

The central probe agency registered the PMLA case on the basis of a CBI FIR and had alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007, when P Chidambaram was the finance minister.

It registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the 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.

Karti was arrested on February 28 last year by the CBI, the other central agency investigating the case, for allegedly taking money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007. He was granted bail subsequently.

The agency has alleged that Karti received money from INX Media, using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it in a case of violation of FIPB conditions to receive investments from Mauritius.