Two days after former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram approached the Madras High Court against the lookout circular issued by Enforcement Directorate and CBI, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Stating that the Central Bureau of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is not taking action against Karti Chidambaram and P Chidambaram, Swamy alleged that some officials in the Ministry of Finance and the CBDT are trying to derail the probe.
Subramanian Swamy pointed out that he had written a letter on March 20, 2017 seeking a probe against Karti Chidambaram, P Chidambaram and their family members under the Black Money Act and new Benami Act alleging that they had amassed properties in 14 countries and held 21 foreign bank accounts.
"Revenue secretary has since then directed CBDT chairman to initiate probe on this matter in last week of March 2017. But till now, CBDT has not moved an inch on this matter, even after getting concrete findings of honest officers of Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax Chennai Unit," he stated in the letter.
Alleging that the CBDT is trying to delay the probe, Swamy writes, "But instead of immediately registering cases and interrogating custodially, that is arrest the Chidambarams under Black Money Act and Benami Act, the CBDT Chairman and top officials in Delhi are trying to delay the case by writing to 14 countries to verify the details of the properties illegally acquired by Chidambaram and family members."
He added that there is no need to write to 14 countries when Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate have "unearthed clinching evidences".
He also stated that the Income Tax Chennai Unit prepared a 200-page summary and Enforcement Directorate issued a 70-page summons to Karti and “his Benami directors” which has sufficient evidences to file cases under Black Money Act and Benami Act.
"I have reliable information that some officials from Ministry of Finance and CBDT are trying to save Chidambaram, and meeting him to leak information to him to derail the probe," he alleges in his letter to the PM.
Swamy concludes by requesting the Prime Minister to order the Revenue Secretary and CBDT Chairman to fasten the process and file cases under Black Money Act and Benami Act.
On May 16, the CBI had raided Chidambaram’s Chennai residence and 13 other places including Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai and Chandigarh.
The CBI registered an FIR against Karti on charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, accepting gratification by corrupt or illegal means, influencing public servants, and criminal misconduct.
Karti is alleged to have received Rs 3.5 crore from Mumbai-based INX media, now 9X Media, for helping it in getting FIPB clearance when it was run by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, both accused in the Sheena Bora murder case.
The FIR does not mention the name of P Chidambaram, though it says he cleared the FIPB approval for Rs 4.62 crore Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the FIPB meeting on May 18, 2007.