NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a fresh charge sheet under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and some others in a case related to their alleged roles in the issuance of visas to some Chinese nationals in 2011, official sources said on Monday.
The sources said the prosecution complaint (equivalent to a police charge sheet) was filed here in a special court on January 25 by the ED, which is yet to take cognisance of the same.
Apart from Karti Chidambaram, the son of senior Congress leader and former Union Finance and Home Minister P Chidambaram, the ED has also named his close associate S Bhaskararaman and some others in the prosecution complaint, the sources said adding that the special court has listed the matter for hearing on March 16.
Karti Chidambaram, 52, is a Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga seat in Tamil Nadu and the agency has recorded his statement in the case several times.
The MP had earlier said that the ED probe in this case was a “fishing and roving” enquiry and that he had submitted all documents to the agency. He had also called the case “most bogus” and had asserted that he was “certain that he never facilitated even a single Chinese national in their visa process, let alone 250”.
Karti was also of the view that the case was aimed at targeting his father P Chidambaram through him to tarnish his image.
The ED’s case under provisions of the PMLA is based on a CBI FIR against him and others.
The probe pertains to allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as kickbacks to Karti Chidambaram and S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab, according to the CBI FIR.
According to the CBI, the work for setting up the power project was being executed by a Chinese company and was running behind schedule. A TSPL executive had sought re-issuance of project visas for 263 Chinese workers for which Rs 50 lakh exchanged hands, the CBI alleged in its FIR.
The CBI had last year raided the premises of the Chidambaram family and arrested Bhaskararaman. It had also questioned Karti Chidambaram.
This is the third probe against Karti Chidambaram under provisions of the PMLA, as the INX Media and Aircel-Maxis cases are also being probed by the ED. The Congress MP has already been charge-sheeted in these two cases too.