Karti Chidambaram Seeks SC To Restrain ED From Summoning Him Under PMLA

Karti Chidambaram, son of former Union Minister P Chidambaram, has moved an application in Supreme Court seeking a restraint order against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from summoning him under the PMLA for alleged irregularities in FIPB clearance given to INX Media Ltd.

A writ petition for quashing of FIR, registered by the CBI in connection with INX Media case, is pending before the apex court for consideration and ED should not be allowed for investigation under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Karti said.

ED has summoned Karti, who will return from abroad on February 28 night, for interrogation on March 1.

Karti’s counsel Anupam Lal Das mentioned before the bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and the court agreed to hear the application tomorrow.

In his application, Karti said: “The entire summons is vitiated by mala fide and farce.”

The ED is not conducting any investigation whether there has been any illegality in the approvals granted to M/s INX group of companies by the FIPB unit of Ministry of Finance. Without conducting such investigation, the ED is harassing the applicant (Karti) by repeatedly calling him for interrogation under the PMLA, he alleged.

“The instant case is a classic case of abuse of powers. If the ED is allowed to continue to issue summons to the applicant for about 10 hours when the scope of the investigation is limited, it will result in the miscarriage of justice,” the application said while seeking a restraint order against ED.

“It is prayed that this Hon’ble Court may be pleased to issue an interim injunction restraining the Assistant Director, ED from summoning the applicant (Karti) in the case of the INX Media ...”

Karti has already appeared before ED and was interrogated for more than 10 hours on January 18.

The CBI FIR, lodged on May 15, last year had alleged irregularities in Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media when Karti's father was the Union Finance Minister.

The top court is also hearing the CBI's appeal challenging Madras High Court order staying the government's look-out circular (LOC) against Karti.

On September 1 last year, the CBI had told the top court that there were "good, cogent" reasons for issuing the LOC.