On Friday, a special CBI court in Delhi denied Congress MP Karti Chidambaram’s and others’ requests for anticipatory release in a money laundering case filed by the Enforcement Directorate in the alleged Chinese ‘Cash-for-Visa’ scheme.
Karti was denied relief by Special Judge MK Nagpal, who said there was insufficient evidence to enable his application.
Other accused defendants in the case, including his chartered accountant S Bhaskar Raman and Vikas Makharia, the assistant Vice President of thermal power facility Talwandi Sabo Power, had their anticipatory bail motions refused by the Rouse Avenue Court in Delhi.
The ED has filed a money-laundering case against Karti and others in connection with an alleged visa scam involving 263 Chinese nationals in 2011, while his father, P Chidambaram, was the home minister.
In the last hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Karti Chidambaram, argued that the alleged transaction is from 2011 and the ED registered the case after a lapse of a long time.
He pointed out that there was no investigation all these years. Counsel also argued that the value of the alleged transaction is Rs 50 lakh, which is less than one crore and in view of this fact, he should be granted bail.
According to the FIR, the Punjab-based private Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd took the help of a middleman and allegedly paid Rs 50 lakh to get the visa issued for Chinese nationals to complete a project before the deadline.
Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram and the Lok Sabha member from Sivaganga, denied all the allegations and said that he “did not facilitate a single Chinese national” and the case was bogus.
