Congress Leader Karti Chidambaram Granted Bail in Chinese Visa 'Scam' Case

Congress Leader Karti Chidambaram Granted Bail in Chinese Visa 'Scam' Case

New Delhi: In a significant development, the Delhi's Rouse Avenue court on Thursday granted regular bail to Congress leader Karti Chidambaram in the money laundering case related to the alleged Chinese visa 'scam'.

The Enforcement Directorate (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.

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) had registered the money laundering case against Karti Chidambaram and other accused in the alleged scam, which involved the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram , was the Union Home Minister.

According to the CBI, a Mumbai-based company, Bell Tools, had signed a consultancy agreement with the Chinese company Shangdong Electric Power Construction Corp. (SEPCCL) to hire Chinese workers for a power project in Punjab. However, the project was running behind schedule, and the company allegedly devised a 'back-door way' to get more Chinese workers by seeking approval to reuse 263 project visas allotted to the Chinese company's officials.

The CBI claims that a bribe of Rs 50 lakh was allegedly demanded by a private person based in Chennai through his close associate/front man, which was paid by the Mansa-based private company. The payment was shown as consultancy fees to a Mumbai-based company that was in the business of manufacturing industrial knives.

Karti Chidambaram had previously called the ED's investigation a 'fishing and roving' one and insisted that he has given the organization all the paperwork it needs. He has angrily refuted the accusations, calling the case 'bogus' and claiming he never assisted any Chinese citizens in obtaining a visa.

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.