CBI raids Chennai residences of P Chidambaram, son Karti

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today raided the Chennai residence of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and his son, Karti P. Chidambaram.

CBI raid at former union minister P Chidambaram's residence in Chennai pic.twitter.com/1oGxTjVDXF

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The raids are reportedly in connection with FIPB clearances given to INX Media (now called 9X Media) when it was run by Peter and Indrani Mukherjea, and when Chidambaram was Finance Minister.

An FIR against Chidambaram and Indrani Mukherjea in the case was filed on Monday.

A team of CBI officials carried out raids at 14 locations across Chennai and Delhi, according to CNN-News18.

The raids began at 6-6:30 AM at Chidambaram’s Chennai residence, as per the TV reports.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has claimed that Chidambaram fast-tracked FIPB approvals for a clutch of companies. Against this, these companies transferred money in Karti's overseas accounts.

Swamy has previously accused Chidambaram of not declaring 'hidden' overseas accounts.

He has also in the past accused the Finance Ministry, under the BJP government, of sitting on investigation related to the Chidambaram assets case, and says the Income Tax office in Chennai has prepared a 200-page dossier on it.

What is INX Media case?

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has been probing involvement of Karti Chidambaram’s company in the alleged foreign exchange violation case.

The case – registered under the Foreign Exchange Management Act in 2010 – involves foreign investment by three Mauritius-based companies in INX Media.

According to the case, INX Media had got approval for FDI up to 46 percent from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The Mauritius companies bought INX shares at Rs 862.31 per share, which was 86.2 times more than the face value of shares.

ED officials allege that foreign investment received by the media company exceeded the limit and was put in its subsidiaries without proper approvals.

As per media reports, in September 2008, Karti’s company – Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited - allegedly received nearly Rs 35 lakh from INX Media. On the same day, another Rs 60 lakh was transferred by the media company to Northstar Software Solutions.

In another transaction in same month, USD 20,000 was transferred by the INX Media to ASCPL’s Singapore subsidiary.

The CBI is investigating whether the money were payments for necessary FIPB approvals for foreign investment.