CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered notice to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) directing it to file reply to an appeal filed by Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram against the order of the Appellate Authority, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), regarding the provisional attachment of his properties worth `1.16 crore in the Aircel-Maxis case.
The first bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan admitted the appeal and directed the ED to file the reply within three weeks, and accordingly adjourned the hearing.
The appeal was filed against the June 5, 2025 order passed by the PMLA Appellate Tribunal under the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976 (SAFEMA), dismissing the appeal filed in the tribunal against the March 12, 2018 order of the Adjudicating Authority under PMLA, which confirmed the provisional attachment order dated February 7, 2012, issued by the ED.
Senior counsel Vijay Narayan, assisted by N R R Arun Natarajan, appearing for the appellant submitted that the provisional attachment order was confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority on March 12, 2008, and on the date, there were no money laundering proceedings pending against Karti.
He pointed out that the prosecution complaint under the PMLA was filed by the ED only on June 13, 2008.
The root of the case is the approval granted in 2006 by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) of the Ministry of Finance to Global Communications Services Holdings Limited of Mauritius, to invest in Aircel, a telecommunication company, with the concurrence of the then Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
According to the appeal petitions, Karti was not named either in the CBI’s 2011 FIR or the subsequent charge sheet nor in the 2012 Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR). Even though all the accused persons, including Dayanidhi Maran and Kalanidhi Maran, were discharged from the CBI and ED cases by the special court in the 2G Spectrum case in 2017, the ED issued the provisional attachment order against the properties of Karti on September 23, 2017.
Subsequently, the ED filed a complaint before the Adjudicating Authority seeking confirmation of the provisional attachment order.