The CBI and the ED are set to widen their investigation against Karti Chidamabaram, son of former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
The agencies said they would look into six more foreign investment approvals granted by Chidambaram, which according to the CBI’s reports, benefited some companies that Karti was allegedly taking money from. Both father and son have denied these allegations.
As reported by Hindustan Times, the agencies will also be cross-questioning officials who were a part of the then Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which recommended those proposals. Before it was disbanded by the Narendra Modi government earlier this year, the FIPB used to approve foreign investment deals of up to a certain value. It also made recommendations to the Finance Minister.
We are looking into approvals granted during Chidambaram’s time as finance minister, first between 2004 and 2008, and then again from 2012 to 2014. Our further investigations are based on information we are getting from the ongoing probes.An unidentified senior officer with one of the agencies told Hindustan Times
The CBI had initially filed a case against Karti and his company, Chess Management Services, for accepting money from INX Media, founded by Peter and Indrani Mukerjea, for using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against the company in a FIPB violation case for an investment from Mauritius.
Also Read: Karti Chidambaram Seeks More Time From CBI For Questioning
While Chidambaram has made no official statement regarding the widening of the investigation yet, he had earlier said that the probe was using agencies like the CBI to try and ‘target’ his son.
While the CBI and ED were initially looking into the approvals granted by Chidambaram between 2004 and 2008, they have decided to broaden their search by looking into those granted between 2012 and 2014 as well.
Also Read: Good Reason for Lookout Notice Against Karti Chidambaram: CBI
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