Court confirms attachment of assets of Karti, Advantage

NEW DELHI: In what is likely to give momentum to the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation against Karti Chidambaram and his father P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case, a Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court on Tuesday confirmed the attachment of assets worth Rs 1.16 cr of Karti and his Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt Ltd (ASCPL).

On September 23 last year, the ED had provisionally attached fixed deposits and bank balance amounting to Rs 1.16 crore held by Karti Chidambaram and ASCPL in connection with the Aircel-Maxis case.

Confirmation of the attachment order by the PMLA adjudicating authority comes at a time when the Supreme Court has directed the ED to complete its investigation into the case within six months, along with all other probes in the 2G spectrum scam.

The agency is also investigating the role of former finance minister P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case as he had allegedly bypassed the CCEA in granting approval for foreign direct investment of Rs 3,500 crore. As the then FM, Chidambaram was authorised to approve FDI up to Rs 600 crore, any amount above that had to be cleared by the CCEA.

“This attachment was done as the amount was involved in money laundering concerning with the FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) approval given to Aircel Limited on March 20, 2006, by the then FM for which he was not competent to approve,” the ED said in a statement. The FIPB came directly under the FM.


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