New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday listed for hearing on August 18 the anticipatory bail plea of Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram in the alleged Chinese visa scam probing the alleged Chinese visa scam by the Enforcement Directorate. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) counsel told that Justice Poonam A Bamba adjourned the hearing on the petition after Additional Solicitor General SV Raju was not available.
The probe agency also said orally that its earlier assurance of not taking any coercive action against Karti would be extended till the next date.
The ED had on July 12 orally assured the High Court that no coercive action would be taken against him till July 12.
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Karti had approached the high court following his anticipatory bail plea and two others were dismissed by the trial court on June 3 on the ground that the offense was of very serious nature.
The ED had registered a money laundering case against Karti and others in an alleged scam in the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011, when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister.
The ED has said that the actual magnitude or quantum of the amount processed or laundered in the case is yet to be ascertained during investigation and the bribe amount of Rs 50 lakh cannot be taken as a ground in the CBL case. current case.
The agency has registered its case under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) taking cognizance of the recent First Information Report of the CBI in the same case.
When the court heard the case during leave last month, the ED had opposed the anticipatory bail plea, saying Karti could not have filed the application on a presumption that did not show any real apprehension of his arrest. The ED had said that the application was premature as investigation has not yet started in the matter and even Karti has not been summoned yet.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Zee News staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)