The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday told a court in New Delhi’s Patiala House Courts complex that former media baron Peter Mukerjea did not cooperate with investigators in the INX Media money laundering case, ANI reported.
As a result, the agency could not question him along with Karti Chidambaram, who is also an accused in the case, and Chidambaram’s chartered accountant, S Bhaskararaman, the CBI added.
The bench sent Mukerjea to judicial custody till April 13. He will be taken to Mumbai on Saturday and be produced before court through video conferencing during subsequent hearings in the case.
The Mukerjea-owned INX Media Limited is accused of paying bribes to get foreign investment approvals from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board. The deals were allegedly facilitated by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram.
The Enforcement Directorate has claimed that the Peter Mukerjea and his wife Indrani Mukerjea, co-founders of INX Media, allegedly took £90 million (around Rs 773 crore) from the company out of India through hawala channels. It has accused Peter Mukerjea of conspiring with Finance Ministry officials in 2007 to secure clearances to access foreign funds. INX Media allegedly received Rs 3,004.4 million as foreign exchange beyond the disclosed amount permitted.
The CBI had arrested Karti Chidambaram on February 28 for allegedly not cooperating in its investigation.
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