The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday opposed the anticipatory bail plea of Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram in the Delhi High Court in the alleged Chinese visa scam case, saying there was no real apprehension of his arrest. The ED said that the application is premature as the investigation is yet to begin in the matter and even Karti has not been summoned yet.
Justice Poonam A Bamba, who heard the matter for nearly three hours, reserved the verdict on Karti’s petition. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Karti, submitted that no crime was committed here and he was not in danger of running away and was also ready to cooperate in the investigation.
He said the incident is related to 2011 and the CBI and ED filed the FIR and Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on May 15, 2022 and May 25, 2022 respectively. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju, appearing for the ED, argued that the matter is still in the initial stage and the agency has registered only one ECIR and there is no apprehension of arrest.
Karti had moved the high court after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the trial court on June 3. The trial court had refused to grant relief to Karti and two others, holding that the offense was of a very serious nature.
The trial court had also set aside the interim protection from arrest granted to the accused persons during the pendency of the anticipatory bail application. It had directed him to join the investigation when called by the investigating officer.
The ED had registered a money laundering case against Karti and others in an alleged scam related to the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011, when his father P Chidambaram was the home minister. “The nature and seriousness of the alleged offences, the initial stage of investigation, and the past criminal history of accused Karti P Chidambaram and S Bhaskararaman also do not make a case for granting anticipatory bail or any further interim bail to the applicants. Protection should be given for joining the investigation of the case as it would seriously impede the process and progress of the investigation.
It had also noted that four other cases – two by the CBI and two by the ED related to the alleged INX Media and Aircel-Maxis scams – were pending before it and both Karti and Bhaskararaman were arrested in one of such cases. and later they were approved. Regular bail, although in other cases he was granted anticipatory bail. ED’s counsel had submitted that in the previous cases also, similar modalities were adopted for granting sanction for certain financial transactions against the existing guidelines and policies and for illegal consideration or bribery and Bhaskararaman in those cases. were also involved in the transaction. Karti to impress his father, who was then holding another portfolio of Union Minister, to give those approvals.
Therefore, the allegations on the basis of which the ED registered the case in the CBI case cannot be dismissed or taken lightly, the trial court had said. It was noted that sufficient evidence had already been collected in the CBI case to show the generation of proceeds of crime as amount of bribe.
Therefore, it cannot be said that the applicants have been falsely implicated or are being implicated in the above case filed by the CBI or even in the present case registered by the ED, the court had said. The ED had said that the actual quantum or quantum of the amount processed or processed in the case is yet to be ascertained during investigation and the bribe amount of Rs 50 lakh in the CBL case cannot be taken as a ground. 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.
read all breaking news , today’s fresh news And IPL 2022 Live Updates Here.