New Delhi: A chargesheet has been filed against former Union minister P Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram and others in connection with the INX Media money laundering case, said sources in the Enforcement Department, which was handling the case. The e-chargesheet will have to be backed up by a hard copy when the lockdown is lifted and the courts start functioning properly.
Earlier, the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI had charged Mr Chidambaram and others with allegedly receiving around ₹10 lakh as a bribe for clearing foreign investment for INX Media.
The agency alleges that in 2007, during his tenure as the finance minister in the UPA government, P Chidambaram had facilitated a huge transfusion of foreign funds to INX Media, then owned by then media baron Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani Mukerjea.
His son Karti Chidambaram had received kickbacks for the deal, investigators have said, building their case on the basis of Indrani Mukerjea's statement.
The Enforcement Directorate alleged that Mr Chidambaram and his son had used the kickbacks received from Mukerjeas to buy properties in India, UK and Spain.
In August last year, the CBI arrested the former minister after a dramatic chase that ended with agency officials scaling the walls of Mr Chidambaram's south Delhi house in full view of television cameras.
On October 16, the ED arrested him in a related money-laundering case and questioned him.
He was granted bail in December after more than three months' stay in Delhi's Tihar jail.
In May 2017, the CBI had filed its case, alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance granted to the INX Media Group for receiving overseas funds of ₹305 crore in 2007.
After almost nine months, the agency filed the chargesheet against Mr Chidambaram, his son Karti Chidambaram and others on charges of alleged money laundering.