Delhi court grants bail to Congress's Karti Chidambaram in alleged Chinese visa scam case

Delhi Rouse Avenue Court granted bail to Congress leader Karti Chidambaram on June 6 in a money laundering case linked to the alleged Chinese visa scam.  

Special Judge for ED and CBI, Kaveri Baweja, granted the relief to the accused after he appeared before the court in pursuance to summons issued against him.  

The court had issued summons against the accused while taking cognisance of a charge sheet filed by the ED in the case.  

The judge granted the relief on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh and a surety of the same amount.  

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered the money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram in the alleged scam pertaining to the issuance of visa to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister.  

The ED had accused Chidambaram of taking a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to facilitate the approval of visa reuse for Chinese personnel, requested by a company involved in setting up a power plant in Punjab.  

The court had also sought an undertaking that he would appear before the court on each date of hearing, (unless specifically exempted) or as and when required.  

He will undertake to join the investigation as and when required by the investigating agency and in case they are travelling abroad, they would join the investigation within 48 hours, if so required by the investigating agency. 

He will file an undertaking that in case they intend to travel abroad and leave the country they shall inform/intimate the court and the IO regarding the exact intended place and dates of travel, place(s) of stay and reasons/purposes.  

Case history

This particular ED case revolves around allegations of Rs 50 lakh being exchanged as kickbacks to Karti and Bhaskararaman by a senior executive of the Vedanta group's company, Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL). The payment was reportedly linked to the reissuance of project visas for Chinese workers involved in a power plant project in Punjab, as outlined in the CBI's FIR.

As per the ED, a private company was in the process of establishing a thermal power plant in Mansa. The contract for which was outsourced to a Chinese company. The project was running behind schedule and in order to avoid being penalised, the private company of Mansa tried to get in more and more Chinese persons and professionals. However, it required visas for the said purpose over and above what's been permitted by the Home Ministry. 

The company allegedly devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of the ceiling by granting permission to reuse 263 project visas allotted to the Chinese company's officials. The representative of the company submitted a letter to the Home Ministry for approval to reuse the project visas allotted to the company. The CBI stated that permission was granted within a month.

The CBI had conducted raids at the residences of the Chidambaram family in 2022 and arrested S Bhaskararaman, a close associate of Chidambaram.

This isn't the first case of alleged money laundering against Karti; the INX Media and Aircel-Maxis cases have been under ED investigation for some time now.