Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti’s tricks to avoid imminent arrest in the INX Media bribe case failed. The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain Karti’s pleas for quashing the summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Though Karti’s advocate Kapil Sibal pleaded for court’s notice to ED before the March 1, the next day of summons, the apex court posted the matter for March 6.
Chidambaram, as head of FIPB, illegally gave post facto clearance to INX Media. Karti’s firm’s Chess Management Services and Advantage Strategic Consulting got a kickback of around Rs.5 crores, said the charge sheets.
The Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta vehemently objected to Sibal’s arguments and said that these kinds of petitions should not be entertained at all. The Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra observed that the demands of quashing summons may be filed with competent authorities. Karti is expected to be back from France by February 28.
Sibal many times said his client Karti is not like a common criminal. The ASG retorted that even common criminals can’t avail such kind of options. It is imminent that the agencies are going to arrest Karti, the bribe receiver as they had already arrested the bribe giver Indrani Mukerjea[1] and Chidambaram family’s Chartered Accountant Bhaskar Raman.
Meanwhile, in the evening, the trial court judge Sunil Rana allowed the extension of three more days custody of Bhaskar Raman to the ED. Finance Minister P Chidambaram is expected to be interrogated by CBI and ED by the second week of March.
As per the CBI and ED FIRs, in 2006, INX Media got FIPB clearance for only Rs.5 crores of foreign investments. But the TV channel illegally brought in more than Rs.305 crores from Mauritius registered companies in a dubious way. The Income Tax authorities found the irregularity and issued a notice to Indrani and husband Peter Mukherjea. Thereafter, the duo approached Karti, son of the then Finance Minister Chidambaram’s for post facto Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance.
Chidambaram, as head of FIPB, illegally gave post facto clearance to INX Media. Karti’s firm’s Chess Management Services and Advantage Strategic Consulting got a kickback of around Rs.5 crores, said the charge sheets.
The INX media scam was unearthed during the joint raid of ED and Income Tax in December 2015 at Karti’s companies in connection with Aircel-Maxis scam. The investigators seized the hard disks from the Karti’s firms, unearthing details of the family’s properties and hotels and farmhouses in 14 countries and 21 undeclared foreign bank accounts[2].
References:
[1] INX Media case – CBI & ED to arrest the bribe giver… – Feb 3, 2018, PGurus.com
[2] Swamy exposes PC’s ‘hidden’ assets abroad – Mar 12, 2017, Pioneer
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Sibal seems to say that Karti IS a criminal, not a common one but an uncommon one!
Though ‘equality’ is a word enshrined in the preamble to the Constitution of India, Kabil Sibal says that his client Karti Chidambaram is not like a common criminal. Are there two classes of criminals, like common and uncommon criminals? Common sense not only becomes uncommon, but looks like having gone on vacation.
Absolutely Yes. There are two two types of criminals in India. One type that Kabil Sibal defends and then the rest of them. You can tell the difference because the Kapil Sibal kind seem to get unlimited date extensions and all kinds of special treatments which others can never even imagine.
The root of the problem is that India’s SC is a corrupt institution with Congi agents well established. No loot of the size the Gandhi family has managed is possible without having inside track in these high institutions.