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The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Thursday, February 27, informed a special court in New Delhi that it has received the mandatory prosecution sanction from the Union government to proceed against former Union finance minister P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis and INX Media money laundering cases, clearing the way for trials that have remained stalled for years.
The ED told the special court for the trial of cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Act that the sanction was granted by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The agency said the delay was largely due to litigation challenging the validity of several provisions of the PMLA and the ED’s powers under it.
The prosecution sanction was granted on February 10 in compliance with a recent Supreme Court judgment, which made prior sanction mandatory under Section 197 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (now Section 218 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023) for prosecuting public servants, even in PMLA cases. The ED has since placed the sanction order before the special court at Rouse Avenue Court and urged that trials be expedited.
Both money laundering probes stem from FIRs registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In the Aircel-Maxis case, the CBI registered its first FIR in 2011, alleging that Chidambaram, as finance minister, had “illegally” granted Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval in 2006 for an $800 million Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), allegedly in return for quid pro quo. The ED has claimed that “as part of a larger conspiracy, approval was fraudulently and dishonestly granted” on March 20, 2006, beyond the minister’s delegated powers.
The agency filed two prosecution complaints in the Aircel-Maxis case in 2018. The special PMLA court took cognisance of these complaints in November 2021, “prima facie validating ED’s findings.” The ED told the court that it has been making “all efforts to fast track the trial” since then.
In the INX Media case, the ED initiated its probe in 2017 based on a CBI FIR registered against INX Media, Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram, and others. The ED alleged that “in consideration for granting and subsequently regularising FIPB approval, illegal gratification was demanded and received through entities beneficially owned or controlled by Karti Chidambaram.” The agency has quantified the proceeds of crime at nearly Rs 65.88 crore and said the funds were routed through shell companies, layered through complex transactions, and invested in Indian and overseas entities.
The special court took cognisance of the ED’s chargesheet in the INX Media case on March 24, 2021, but the trial has remained pending despite what the agency described as its “best efforts.