Karti Chidambaram at the CBI office. (Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey)
THE CONGRESS on Wednesday said the arrest of senior party leader P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram was an attempt by the BJP government to “divert, deflect and distract” attention from the massive banking scams. While the party dubbed the arrest as “political vendetta”, the CBI’s move has come as a setback to the Congress, which was planning to put the government on the mat over bank frauds in Parliament session beginning next week.
Congress president Rahul Gandhi and Chidambaram did not comment. The party’s communication department head Randeep Surjewala said CBI is acting as a “puppet” to “serve the agenda of its political masters”.
Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal termed the arrest “malafide” and said it was done to harass Chidambaram. “This is complete vendetta politics, this is completely malafide,” he said. Sibal challenged the agencies to produce evidence against Karti. “They are always misusing the law,” he said.
Surjewala said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government are indulging in political witch-hunt to “deflect the heat from unprecedented bank scams and loss to public exchequer caused by the culture of crony capitalism”. Lalit Modi, Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi have fled the country, he said.
“The Punjab National Bank alone has estimated its loss at Rs 13,000 crore. Adding to this is the Rotomac bank scam of Rs 3,695 crore and defrauding of Oriental Bank of Commerce of Rs 390 crore by Dwarka Das Seth International Private Limited…” he said.
About the charges against Karti, he said while the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval was granted in May 2007, the FIR was lodged a decade later in May 2017.
“The FIR does not name Karti Chidambaram as an accused. The CBI charge is that a sum of Rs 10 lakh was given by cheque to M/s Advantage Strategic Consulting towards management consultancy charges by M/s INX Media Private Limited for FIPB approval. Neither Chidambaram nor Karti, or any other family member, has ever been a shareholder or director or investor in either of the two companies,” Surjewala said.
“Advantage Strategic Consulting agrees receiving the consultancy money and has reflected the same in its income tax return. The simple question is how does it establish any culpability on part of Karti,” he said.
Surjewala said the FIPB comprises six seniormost Secretaries of the Government of India and the collective decision of FIPB is submitted to the Finance Minister for approval, who grants approval in normal course.
“Till date, the CBI has not questioned either the chairman or any member of FIPB, nor any motives have been attributed to any individual granting the permission. The CBI has merely examined Joint Secretary level officer, who has unequivocally stated that the FIPB approval was given without any influence or favour by any person,” he said.
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Kushal KumarMar 1, 2018 at 5:18 amThe developing scenario involving politicians or high ups connected with governance of affairs of nation in present times or in the past can be viewed to have been predicted in implied form in this Vedic astrology writer’s article -“ Astrologically speaking , some highlights for India in coming year 2018”- published last year at theindiapost , simultaneously at wionews on 19 October , 2017. The related text in the article reads as follows :- “ The year 2018 looks to be bringing to focus themes of political , ………………nature for a heightened or sharp analysis or discussion. Such analysis or discussion could also pave way for new enactments or judicial pronouncements having far reaching significance or value , covering issues related to ……… political class”.Reply
