NEW DELHI: The
Supreme Court today adjourned further hearing in an alleged money laundering case against
Karti Chidambaram till April 27.
The decision extends the interim protection previously granted to Karti, who cannot be arrested by the
Enforcement Directorate (ED) till the next date of hearing. The ED is looking to remand the political heavyweight into its custody and question him about his alleged involvement in the
INX Media PMLA case and the Aircel-Maxis case.
In his plea before the court, Karti has sought striking down of ED's power of arrest under section 19 of the PMLA, besides seeking quashing of the enforcement case information report (ECIR) and the probe being carried out by the agency.
The
CBI arrested Karti on February 28 from Chennai in connection with alleged payoffs received from INX Media promoted by Peter and
Indrani Mukerjea, who confessed the same in a statement to the investigating agency.
Karti was on March 23 granted bail by the Delhi high court in connection with the INX Media case.
ED officials said that it recovered four invoices raised by Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd (ASCPL), a firm owned by Karti, and its Singapore subsidiaries for $700,000 against INX Media. ED officials claim the transactions are in sync with the timeline delineated by the Mukerjeas of the payments they made to ASCPL.
The agency further claimed that its investigators have found details of Karti transferring Rs 1.8 crore into the bank account of an influential political figure from his Royal Bank of Scotland account between 2006 and 2009.
Investigators said the recipient has discharged very important responsibilities at the Centre in a career spanning decades, but declined to disclose his identity on the grounds that doing so could hamper their investigation.
Karti Chidambaram (File photo)
