Karti Chidambaram requests SC permission to travel abroad

NEW DELHI: An embattled Karti Chidambaram, who is facing allegations of holding multiple accounts and assets abroad, on Monday sought the Supreme Court's permission to travel outside India.

The son of senior Congress leader P Chidambaram informed the apex court that he has to travel to the UK from October 19 to November 13 for his daughter's admission to Cambridge University.

Karti has contended that he owns only one asset abroad+ , which was acquired by a transfer of funds through nationalised banks under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme.

"I have just one account in UK's Metro Bank, which was opened in June 2016. This foreign bank account has not received any remittance from anyone except my wife, daughter, and myself," he said.

"I am a 'politically exposed person' and the UK has strict laws governing PEPs in terms of opening bank accounts," he added.

The CBI, on May 15 this year, had lodged an FIR alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media+ for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007 when his father was finance minister.

In September, the investigating agency had issued a lookout notice against Karti to prevent him from travelling abroad, alleging that he was closing several of his foreign bank accounts.+

The CBI had again on Wednesday accused him of tampering with evidence during his visits abroad in the months of May, June and July this year.