Former Union minister P Chidambaram deposed before the Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday in connection with the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case. The agency recorded the Congress leader’s statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, PTI reported.
“Appeared before the Enforcement Directorate,” Chidambaram tweeted. “The questions were about what is already recorded in the file. Hence, answers too were what is recorded in the file. More than half the time taken up by typing the answers without errors, reading the statement and signing it.”
Chidambaram pointed out that he was being investigated even though a First Information Report had not been registered against him.
A Delhi court on May 30 had asked Chidambaram to appear before the agency on June 5, and said no coercive action would be taken against him till then.
The court on Tuesday granted Chidambaram protection from arrest till July 10 in the case, ANI reported. The Enforcement Directorate had sought time to file a detailed reply in the case, following which the court fixed the matter for hearing on July 10, the same date on which the hearing against Chidambaram’s son Karti Chidambaram is scheduled.
Karti Chidambaram is currently being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate in the case, which pertains to clearances granted by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board granted to the firm M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd for investment in Aircel in 2006. P Chidambaram was the finance minister at that time.
Karti Chidambaram allegedly facilitated bribes in the Aircel-Maxis transaction. The investigative agency is looking into “the circumstances” in which P Chidambaram, in his capacity as the finance minister, had granted the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approvals.
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