On Friday, a Delhi court is expected to rule on whether or not to hear the money laundering case against Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram in connection with the INX media scam. The case had been postponed by the Rouse Avenue district court until July 9 due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, as the court was only hearing ‘urgent’ matters at the time.
The case stems from irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group in 2007 for receiving 305 crore in overseas funds, while P Chidambaram was the Union Minister of Finance in the Congress-led UPA government at the time.
The former finance minister was arrested two years later, on August 21, 2019, after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a case on May 15, 2017. Later that year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested P Chidambaram in connection with a money-laundering case.
However, on October 22, the Congress leader was granted bail in the CBI case, while on December 4, 2019, he was granted bail in the ED case. He was released from Tihar Jail a day later, on December 5, after the Supreme Court approved his bail application.
P Chidambaram and his son Karti, who was also arrested in the case in 2018 and later granted bail, were summoned by a Delhi court on April 7 this year after the ED chargesheet in connection with their alleged role in the INX Media money laundering case was taken cognizance of by the court.
The ED’s chargesheet was filed under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act’s section 3 (money laundering) read with section 70 (corporate offences), which is punishable under section 4 (punishment) (PMLA).
