Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram's son Karti Chidambaram, facing CBI charges of holding multiple accounts abroad, told the Supreme Court on Monday that he had just one bank account and one asset overseas.
He also also sought the court's permission to travel abroad, from October 19 to November 13, for the admission of his daughter to the Cambridge University.
Pointing out that he has just one overseas asset, the finances for which were sent through channels of the nationalised bank under the RBI's liberalised remittance scheme (LRS), Karti Chidambram told the bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud that his family also "has no other overseas property".
Appearing for the junior Chidambaram, senior counsel Kapil Sibal said that his client had just one overseas account which was opened in 2016 in Britain's Metro Bank and that he had never held any bank account abroad prior to that, barring the time he was a student in the US and Britain between 1989 and 1995.
An affidavit filed by Karti Chidambaram on Monday said that all remittances in his British account were only from his wife and daughter.
"The transfers were affected under the LRS of the RBI through nationalised banks and were made by scrupulously following the law and rules of the country," Sibal told the court.
Reiterating that his client's hands were clean, Sibal asked the court to allow Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad, stressing that even on an earlier occasion he had returned after being called by the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning.
Addressing the CBI's allegation that Karti Chidambaram would use his foreign visit to close his accounts and tamper with evidence, Sibal told the court that he undertakes that during his visit abroad, he will not go to any bank.
The hearing was adjourned till Tuesday as the CBI will tell the court if it was ready to share with Karti Chidambaram the documents it submitted to the court in a sealed cover in the lookout circular case to cement its case for the continuation of the look-out circular issued against him.
Karti Chidambaram is facing a probe by the CBI for his alleged role in facilitating the 2007 Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance for INX Media Ltd when his father was the Union Finance Minister.
--IANS
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