More articles by

Lakshmi Subramanian
Lakshmi Subramanian

RAIDS

Are CBI raids at Chidambaram's home political?

PTI5_16_2017_000063A CBI on Tuesday launched searches at multiple premises linked to P. Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram in connection with alleged favours granted in FIPB clearance to a firm | PTI

The alleged quid pro quo and what the FIR has to say about Chidambarams

The CBI raids at former union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s residence in Chennai and 14 other places across the country have come down as a shocker for the opposition Congress and for the political observers in Tamil Nadu. Though not a surprise to those who have been closely observing the continuous developments in Tamil Nadu politics and the beginning of the crackdown by the Modi government on every other opposition party, the raids have shaken the Congress.

Chidambaram's residence at Nungambakkam in Chennai, where his son Karti P. Chidambaram and his family live, and thirteen other places in Delhi, Mumbai and Gurugram, were raided by the CBI this morning, as part of an investigation into the criminal misconduct in grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval.

“All these charges are baseless. I am being targeted politically and personally,” Karti Chidambaram told the media waiting outside his residence. 

Meanwhile, Chidambaram, who is in Delhi, rubbished the charges and said the government was trying to silence him by cracking down on his family. "The government, using the CBI and other agencies, is targeting my son and his friends. The government's aim is to silence my voice and stop me from writing, as it has tried to do in the cases of leaders of opposition parties, journalists, columnists, NGOs and civil society organisations,” he said in a statement. 

The former minister said he will continue to write. Stating that every case was processed according to the law and approval was granted in accordance with the recommendations of the FIPB, consisting of five secretaries to the government of India, he said, “FIPB approval is granted in hundreds of cases. The five secretaries who constitute the FIPB, the officials of the FIPB Secretariat and the competent authority in each case are public officials. There is no allegations against any of them. There is no allegation against me,” Chidambaram stated.

Meanwhile, the 12-page FIR registered by the CBI has listed INX Media through its directors Indrani Mukherjea and Peter Mukherjea, Karti P. Chidambaram, his company Chess Management Services and Advantage Strategic Consulting through its director Padma Viswanathan. It has to be noted that both Indrani and Peter Mukherjea  are serving imprisonment in Mumbai in the Sheena Bhora murder case.

The FIR alleges financial misappropriation over FIPB clearance to Peter and Indrani's media company INX Media in 2008. It says that ASCPL was being controlled by Karti indirectly, and that invoices for an estimated amount of Rs 3.5 crore were also raised in favour of INX group in the name of other companies in which Karti was having sustainable interests directly or indirectly. “However, INX group, in its record, had clearly mentioned the purpose of payment of Rs 10 lakh to ASPCL as towards management consultancy charges towards FIPB notification and clarification,” says the FIR.

The FIR states that, prima facie, these appears to be acts of omission and commission. 

After more than three hours of questioning and searches at his residence, Karti was taken by the CBI officers to his Chess Management Services office in Nungambakkam for further searches. Karti was seen accompanied by the officers. 

In April, a show cause notice was issued to Karti and a firm linked to him for alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations of Rs 45 crore. Karti is also being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for his alleged links in money laundering in the Aircel-Maxis deal case.

"A show cause notice has been issued to Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, its directors and also to Karti P. Chidambaram who appears to be the controller and ultimate beneficiary in these transactions,” the ED had stated in April.  ASCPL is already under the ED scanner over money laundering charges in the Aircel-Maxis deal. 

Chidambaram had then accused the ED of making wild allegations against his son Karti. He said the two companies had earlier explained their transactions repeatedly and Karti was never a shareholder or a director in any of these companies. 

According to Congressmen from Tamil Nadu, the CBI raids and the earlier notice by ED had clear “political vendetta”.  “CBI is being misused by the centre and Chidambaram is being targeted through his son,” said Peter Alphonse, a senior Congress leader. 

In fact, according to them, the raids were to destroy the Congress, the only opposition to the BJP in the country before the 2019 elections. Moreover, Chidambaram is in the inner circles of the Congress party and is close to Sonia Gandhi. He also opposes the economic policies of the government.

“This raid is to damage his reputation. More than anyone in Congress, Chidambaram is the only person who spoke more about Modi’s Gujarat days. This is to scuttle him,” alleged Congressmen who were waiting outside Karti’s residence in Chennai to get a glimpse of what was happening. 

The murmur inside the Congress party office also resonated similar views that this was to undermine Chidambaram’s power to the maximum extent by targeting his son and to neutralise the former finance minister, through whom one of the strong wings of Sonia Gandhi could be clipped. 

More than this, the major question by the Congressmen close to Chidambaram and a few economical experts is that how much of evidence can the CBI unearth in an FIPB approval that happened in 2008. Also, if Karti’s firm is linked to it, many government departments involved in the foreign exchange deals will also come under the scanner. 

And, if the approvals were given by taking kickbacks as claimed by the CBI and ED, the illegality will have to be proved as Chidambaram says the concerned approvals were given by multi-member panels empowered by law. 

Though there is a clear conflict of interest since Chidambaram was the then Union finance minister, the Congressmen say that the evidences will not stand in the court of law. The investigating agencies, however, will have to establish the quid pro quo involving the payments with regard to these questionable approvals in the court of law. 

Interestingly, BJP senior leader Subramanian Swamy had always been vocal against the Chidambarams and had been citing discretionary approvals given by Chidambaram during his tenure as finance minister. Swamy had been continuously vociferous against Chidambaram and Karti, accusing them of illegal and improper conduct in these cases. 

This browser settings will not support to add bookmarks programmatically. Please press Ctrl+D or change settings to bookmark this page.

Related Reading

    Show more