Former Union Finance Minister Chidambaram Moves SC For Bail In INX Media Case

Former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram has moved the Supreme Court challenging the September 30 judgment of the Delhi High Court that dismissed his application for regular bail in INX Media case. Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal made a mention before Justice Raman for urgent listing of the case on Thursday.

Justice Ramana replied that the CJI will take a call on urgent listing and forwarded the file to him.

Dismissing the bail application, Justice Suresh Kumar Kait of Delhi HC said that though Chidambaram does not pose a flight risk and also does not have the power to tamper evidence, he has the potential to influence witnesses considering his stature as a Senior Advocate and his position as a Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Cabinet Minister.

The High Court took note of the 'sealed cover' notes submitted by the CBI, which stated that the accused Peter Mukherjee and Indrani Mukherjee -who controlled INX media - had met Chidambaram even before the filing of application for FIPB approval. The Court said in the judgment that it was on record that large sums of monies had come to the companies owned and controlled by Karti Chidambaram - Chidambaram's son- during the period of FIPB approval to INX Media, even though no services were rendered by those companies. Investigation has also revealed that contemporaneously large number of emails were exchanged between the representatives of INX Media and the company controlled by petitioner and Karti P. Chidambaram, the judgment said.

The High Court observed that economic offences constitute a class apart as it cuts at the root of probity and purity of public administration. An economic offence is committed with cool calculation and deliberate design with an eye on personal profit regardless of the consequence to the Community.

Chidambaram was arrested from his Jor Bagh residence on August 21 by the CBI and has been custody since then. On September 5, he was sent to Tihar jail after 15 days of CBI custody. The remand period was later extended till October 3. The allegation is that as Union Finance Minister in 2007, Chidambaram took kickbacks for FIPB clearance for the FDI of INX media, and the money was routed through the companies linked with his son Karti Chidambaram.

The ED has registered a separate case under Prevention of Money Laundering Act in respect of the money laundering allegations. The CBI case is with respect to corruption allegations.