The Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down Karti Chidambaram’s request for an urgent hearing of his petition seeking permission to travel abroad, the Hindustan Times reported.
“We have better things to do,” said a bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. “We will see what can be done.”
Karti Chidambaram, the son of senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram, is accused of money laundering in the INX Media case and the Aircel-Maxis case.
The court in November had dismissed a similar petition moved by Karti Chidambaram. “Karti Chidambaram going abroad is not so important that it will get precedent over other [cases],” Gogoi had then said.
The Supreme Court had allowed Karti Chidambaram to travel to the United Kingdom between September 20 and September 30 last year despite the Enforcement Directorate’s objection that he had “blatantly misused” the liberty granted to him.
The case pertains to clearances that the Foreign Investment Promotion Board granted the firm M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd for investment in Aircel in 2006. Chidambaram was the finance minister at the time and Karti Chidambaram allegedly facilitated the payment of bribes in the Aircel-Maxis transaction. The Enforcement Directorate is probing why Chidambaram approved the investment when only the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs can approve such deals.
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