ED has filed a money laundering case against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram on Wednesday, 25 May, and others to investigate suspected anomalies in the issue of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister.
Over a week after the CBI charged former Union Finance and Home Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti in a case of suspected corruption in granting visas to Chinese officials of a firm, the Enforcement Directorate charged him with money laundering.
The CBI conducted national searches last week at several locations associated with P Chidambaram and his son Karti in connection with the case.
The FIR alleges that Karti took a bribe of Rs 50 lakh from the Vedanta Group in order to enable visas for 300 Chinese nationals of a firm working on a power project in Punjab with a Vedanta subsidiary.
Karti, his alleged partner S Bhaskararaman, M/s Talwandi Sabo Power Limited, Mansa (Punjab), Vikas Makharia, a Talwandi Sabo official, and M/s Bell Tools Limited, Mumbai, have all been charged in the CBI FIR.
Background of the CBI Case Registered
Notably, the CBI case is predicated on a referral from the Enforcement Directorate to the CBI in 2018.
The ED letter said that during its investigation into the Chidambarams' in the INX Media case, it discovered evidence that a business purportedly affiliated with Karti was given Rs 50 lakh by the Vedanta Group to expedite visas for 300 Chinese people when Chidambaram was the home minister.
The Vedanta Group made the offer to Karti's chartered accountant S Bhaskararaman in 2011, according to the Enforcement Directorate. The ED accusations were based on email correspondence recovered from Bhaskararaman's laptop's hard drive.
At the time, the ED drew the CBI's attention to an earlier letter it had written to the agency in June 2018 about "digital evidence retrieved from a hard disc of Shri S Bhaskararaman, CA of Shri Karti P Chidambaram from the premises of Sh Karti P Chidambaram, relating to a request for grant of 300 visas to Chinese Nationals by the Home Ministry."
According to the memo, the agency has now retrieved other emails indicating that Vedanta promised Rs 50 lakh to Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd (ASCPL) for this assignment in August of 2011. According to the CBI, the ASCPL is "indirectly managed by Karti."
The reference did not indicate where or how the money was received, if at all, but it did state that the visas were finally issued.
P Chidambaram and His Son Received Favours From Vedanta
According to the ED reference, "...one Shri Vikas Makharia of Vedanta group proposed a fee of Rs 50 lakh to ASCPL in exchange for visas. This offer was made over email on 27 August 2011.
"This was followed by another email dated 2 September 2011, in which Sh Makharia complimented Shri S Bhaskararaman for granting visas to Talwandi Sabo Power Limited by the Ministry of Home Affairs."
The memo also included reference copies of the emails mentioned in the note, as well as a copy of P Chidambaram's testimony to the agency on 28 August.
While P Chidambaram hasn't been charged as an accused, the CBI FIR states that the payments were made after Bhaskararaman discussed Vedanta's requirements with P Chidambaram.
It has also been claimed that P Chidambaram served on the board of Vedanta and that his son received financial favours from a Vedanta subsidiary.
However, because the project was falling behind schedule, Talwandi Sabo attempted to invite additional Chinese expertise to their Mansa location in order to avoid penalties for lateness. The CBI claimed in its FIR that it required project visas in excess of the Ministry of Home Affairs' quota.
According to the CBI FIR, "S Bhaskararaman, following conversation with Sh P Chidambaram, the then home minister, requested an unlawful payment of Rs 50 Lakhs for ensuring the above mentioned sanction."
CBI informed that, the bribe was finally transferred to Karti through a Mumbai-based business.
Talwandi Sabo Power Project is a coal-fired, super-critical thermal power plant in Punjab's Mansa district. The power plant is run by TSPL, a Vedanta subsidiary.
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