ED files charge sheet against Karti Chidambaram, others in Chinese visa scam case

New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a charge sheet before the Special PMLA Court in Delhi against Karti P. Chidambaram and his former Chartered Accountant S. Bhaskararaman in the Chinese visa scam case.

The agency stated on Thursday that the court took cognizance of the charge sheet on Tuesday. Besides Karti Chidambaram, Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited and others are also named as accused in the money-laundering case.

The financial probe agency had initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR registered by the CBI under the provisions of IPC, 1860 and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.

The investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) revealed that Karti P. Chidambaram received illegal gratification of Rs 50 lakh through his close aide S. Bhaskararaman in exchange for facilitating the approval for the reuse of Chinese visas by Talwandi Sabo Power Limited.

“This company was involved in establishing a power project in Mansa, Punjab. Officials from the company approached Karti P. Chidambaram to assist in obtaining approval for visa reuse from the Ministry of Home Affairs, where his father served as Home Minister,” said a senior ED official.

The official said that the modus operandi employed in this case involved the company issuing a Rs 50 lakh cheque to an entry operator for fictitious services.

The entry operator then provided Rs 50 lakh in cash to Bhaskararaman.

“Subsequently, S. Bhaskararaman invested this cash sum of Rs 50 lakh into Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited, a company controlled by Karti P. Chidambaram. Over time, the value of this investment increased to Rs 1.59 crore, constituting proceeds of crime under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002,” said the official.