Karti Chidambaram appears before Enforcement Directorate for third time in less than one month

“Congress MP Karti Chidambaram appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in New Delhi, on January 12, his third deposition in less than a month, for questioning in a money-laundering case linked to alleged issuance of visas to some Chinese nationals in 2011,” sources said.

“Congress MP Karti Chidambaram appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), in New Delhi, on January 12, his third deposition in less than a month, for questioning in a money-laundering case linked to alleged issuance of visas to some Chinese nationals in 2011,” sources said.

The 52-year-old legislator from Sivaganga Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu was questioned in this case on December 23 last year and January 2 and the Central agency recorded his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Karti went to the ED headquarters in Delhi for the third time on Friday morning. It is understood that his deposition was in connection with the Chinese-visa-linked PMLA case this time too.

The MP had called the summons in this case a "routine affair and things that happen routinely especially when elections come near".

"These are all exercises in futility. We will go through them," he had told reporters while deposing earlier this month. The money-laundering case, filed under the provisions of the PMLA, stems from a CBI FIR.

The probe pertains to allegations of ₹50 lakh being paid as kickbacks to Karti and his close associate S. Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Limited. (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab, according to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) FIR.

According to the CBI, the work for setting up the power project was being executed by a Chinese company and was running behind schedule.