Court
The newly elected MP wanted a refund of the money he had deposited before he left for foreign trips.
-
IANS -
Wednesday, May 29, 2019 – 15:45
File image/PTI
The Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea by Sivaganga MP and former Union Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram for immediate refund of his deposit of Rs 10 crore, while telling the newly-elected Lok Sabha member to “pay attention” to his constituency.
Karti Chidambaram is facing proceedings in cases linked to Aircel-Maxis and money laundering. One of the cases includes the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for Rs 305 crore of foreign funds, when his father was the Finance Minister.
Karti Chidambaram had moved the apex court seeking release of Rs 10 crore, deposited with the court’s registry regarding his overseas travel. His counsel argued that since Karti is back in India, the money deposited with the registry must be refunded.
“Every time you go abroad you deposit Rs 10crore. Ok..we will refund Rs 10 crore but next time you go we will say deposit Rs 20 crore,” a Vacation Bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi told Karti. The court also asked him why he was after the money?
He claimed he raised loans to deposit Rs 10 crore and was paying interest on it. His plea was mentioned before the Vacation Bench, comprising Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna. The bench refused to grant him any relief and instead asked his counsel to mention the matter before the bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
Earlier, the bench headed by the CJI allowed Karti to travel to the UK, the US, France, Germany and Spain in May and June this year on condition that he deposit Rs 10 crore with the Secretary General of the apex court. The court had said it would be returned to him upon his return.
Karti is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED had opposed Karti’s travel request but the court had asked Karti to file an undertaking that upon his return, he will fully cooperate with the investigating agencies. He had been out of India for 51 days in the last six months, the probe agency informed the top court.