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Tamil Nadu: On Saturday, Karti Chidambaram, Congress MP, appeared for questioning before the probe agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering probe linked to the issuance of visa to some Chinese nationals in 2011, official sources said.
According to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR, The ED case pertains to the allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as kickbacks to Karti and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of the Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab.
The Enforcement Directorate case stems from the CBI complaint. Earlier, the 52-year-old MLA from Tamil Nadu’s Sivagangai Lok Sabha seat was summoned twice by the central agency to appear before him in the case being investigated under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
However, Chidambaram had ignored the summons and described the investigation as a “fishing and frolicking” inquiry. He had dubbed the case “most bogus”. He had said,”There are three categories of cases foisted on me: bogus, more bogus and most bogus. This is category three. It will be dealt with by my lawyers.”
The 2022 case alleges that Rs 50 lakh was paid as a bribe to Karti and his close associate S Bhaskararaman by a top official of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL), which owns a power plant in Punjab.
These revelations were made by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) through a First Information Report (FIR), on the basis of which a case of money laundering was registered.Karti had earlier said that the case was a “harassment and conspiracy against him” and an attempt to target his father (senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram) through him.
