Madras HC declines to hear plea of PC’s wife

Nalini Chidambaram, spouse of Congress strongman P Chidambaram, has to wait for some time to know the fate of her petition before the Madras High Court on her plea to grant exemption from personal appearance before the Enforcement Directorate for questioning in a money laundering case connected with the Saradha Chit Fund case.

A vacation Bench of the court on Friday declined to hear the petition filed by Nalini, herself a Supreme Court lawyer, asking to quash the April 24 order of Justice SM  Subamaniam who dismissed her petition seeking exemption from appearing before the ED for questioning.

The case had its origin in September 2016 when the ED issued a summons to Nalini asking her to present herself as a witness in the Saradha Chit Fund scam case in its Kolkatta office.

The ED summons was based on the statement given by Manoranjana Sinh, an accused in the Saradha Chit Fund scam that Nalini was paid Rs One crore by the Saradha Group  for her appearances in court and Company Law Board in connection with  the purchase of a TV channel.

On Thursday, the Madras High Court gave green signal to the Department of Income Tax to go ahead with the Show Cause Notice (SCN) issued by it to Chess Global Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, Chennai in which Karti Chidambaram is a director.

The SCN was issued in 017 April by the Income Tax Department seeking details from Chess Global Advisory Services about the advances and investments made by the firm in Totus Tennis Ltd UK and Nanoholdings LLC in USA.

The Income Tax Department had served the SCN under the Black Money Act. The CGAS pleaded with the Madras High Court to quash the SCN.

The bench of Justices V Baharatidasan and N Seshasayeem after hearing both the sides gave the nod to the IT Department to proceed with the SCN and enquiry. The court also asked the IT Department to provide the petitioners an opportunity to present  their version.

The Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) has been asked by the court  to file his counter and adjourned the case to June 5. The petitioners told the court that all the investments and advances made by them in the to companies had been disclosed bth in the original and revised returns  submitted to the IT department. Bt the Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigations) in April last had issued the SCN asking why prosecution should not be sanctioned for an offence under Sction 50 of the Black Money Act.

The Chidambaram family consisting his wife Malini, son Karti and daughter-in-law Srinidhi have moved the Madas High Court on Thursday challenging the April 12 order of a single judge refusing to restrain the IT department from sanctioning prosecution against them  under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets ) and imposition of Tax 2015 Act.