INX Media: P Chidambaram questioned by ED in money laundering case
New Delhi : Former finance minister P Chidambaram was on Friday questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with a money laundering probe related to INX Media.
The Congress leader, who was summoned to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), arrived at the agency's office in central Delhi at about 11 am and left after about three hours.
Chidambaram has been grilled in this case in December last too. It is understood that he was questioned in context to some documents seized and recovered by the agency in the case. His son Karti was questioned by the agency in the same case on Thursday for about six hours.
The ED attached Karti's assets worth an estimated Rs 54 crore, located in India and abroad, in the case last year.
The central probe agency registered the PMLA case on the basis of a CBI FIR and had alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds to the tune of Rs 305 crore in 2007, when P Chidambaram was the finance minister.
It registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR), the ED's equivalent of a police FIR, against the accused named in the CBI complaint, including Karti, INX Media and its directors -- Peter and Indrani Mukerjea.
Karti was arrested on February 28 last year by the CBI, the other central agency investigating the case, for allegedly taking money to facilitate the FIPB clearance to INX Media in 2007. He was granted bail subsequently.
The agency has alleged that Karti received money from INX Media, using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it in a case of violation of the FIPB (now scrapped) conditions to receive investments from Mauritius.
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Power struggle in ruling Cong has 'created massive confusion' in Karnataka: BJP leader Ashoka
Bengaluru (PTI): BJP leader R Ashoka on Friday claimed that the ongoing power struggle between Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar has created massive confusion in Karnataka.
He remarked that the proverb “when two people fight, the third one benefits” has come true, as AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge is also now making efforts to become Chief Minister.
Speaking to reporters here, Ashoka said the entire government has turned into a house of confusion due to the alleged power tussle.
Kharge’s new statement has only added to the chaos, he said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge had on Friday said that no date has been fixed yet to discuss possible leadership change in Karnataka.
This came a day after Kharge said there was no change of CM in Karnataka "for now" and that the leadership issue in the state would be resolved soon.
The BJP leader said that Kharge too has aspirations and that he was cheated earlier.
"Perhaps he has received a green signal from the Congress high command to become CM. Everyone is already saying Kharge should become CM. Kharge himself has declared, “I am ready to become CM.” Despite many attempts in the past, he never became CM. Now he is trying to seize the opportunity," the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly said.
According to him, the situation in Congress has perfectly become a case of “two people fighting, third one benefits.”
