ED attaches assets of Karti Chidambaram, firm linked to him

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) attached assets worth Rs 1.16 crore of Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, on Monday in connection with alleged money laundering in the Aircel-Maxis case.

The ED claimed that Karti was trying to sell most of his assets and close certain bank accounts. Congress leader P Chidambaram lashed out at the financial investigating agency, saying the allegations are "a crazy mixture of falsehoods and conjectures" intended to "intimidate" him and to "silence" his voice.

Karti is being probed for receiving alleged kickbacks in getting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to Malaysia-based Maxis to invest in Indian telecom company Aircel when his father was the Union Finance Minister. The deal is being probed by both ED and CBI, and the case is a part of the overall probe in the 2G scam case.

The agency attached movable assets to the tune of Rs 90 lakh held by Karti in the form of fixed deposits (FDs) and balance in saving bank accounts.

Another Rs 26 lakh in FDs and bank balances of a company Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd liked with him were attached by the ED.

The ED said it found that although FDI was of $800 million (over Rs 3,500 crore) and within the competence of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA), the proposal was wrongly projected as an investment of Rs 180 crore so that it need not be sent to CCEA to avoid a detailed scrutiny.

"The FDI included indirect investments by way of trust issue of preference shares of $375 million, over Rs 1,650 crore, and this fact was concealed," said the ED. "Investigation revealed that a payment of Rs 26 lakh by Aircel Televentures Limited, the seller of equity shares in this deal, to Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited within a few days of the FIPB approval," it said.

The agency further alleged that Chess Management Services Pvt. Ltd, a company promoted by Karti and A Palaniappan, nephew of P Chidambaram, received a sum of $2 lakh approximately from Maxis group allegedly for legal compliance software.

"Investigation further revealed that the software was designed only for use in India, with reference to various laws applicable in India and hence was of no use to a Malaysian company in Malaysia," said the ED in a statement.

Also, Karti recently sold a house in Gurugram, which the ED was planning to attach. This house was given on rent to a company that was granted FIPB approval by P Chidambaram.

Earlier this month the CBI asked Karti to join investigation. Karti then said there is no case made out against him so he will not appear before them.