BJP Govt. targeting my family: P. Chidambaram.
By Sreekanth A. Nair
In a move that could spells more trouble for the Congress party reeling under the setback in the polling results of Kerala and Assam state assemblies, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has decided to seek information from 14 countries regarding the transactions and assets of Karti Chidambaram, the son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram.
According to a report in The Times of India, the ED has approached the UK, UAE, South Africa, US, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the British Virgin Islands for details regarding the banking transactions and properties of Karti Chidambaram.
Based on the documents recovered from Chidambaram, the ED found that he had alleged connection with companies such as Advantage Strategic, Sequoia, WestBridge.
“All my assets and liabilities are duly recorded in my books of accounts. My tax filings are up to date. If any statutory or regulatory authority seeks information under prescribed provisions of law, I will provide the information,” Chidambaram told Times of India.
In a raid conducted in February this year, ED and the investigation wing of the Income Tax Department that investigated the alleged acquisition of Indian telecommunication company Aircel by Malaysian company Maxis, had recovered documents from his company Advantage Strategic Consulting, showing the huge investments made by Karti in real estate and other businesses in different countries.
Karti’s company Advantage Strategic Consulting allegedly was involved in the Aircel-Maxis deal.
It was found that he did transactions through Advantage’s Singapore-based subsidiary Advantage Strategic Consulting Singapore Pvt Ltd.
The probe had found that Advantage Strategic Consulting Singapore Ptv. Ltd. had acquired 88 acres at Surridge Farm in Somerset in the UK for one million Pounds in September 2011. It has investments in Artevea Digital Limited in Cambridge and has transactions with another London-based company Oppenheimer Investments (UK) Limited.
The Dubai-based Desert Dunes Properties Ltd had transactions worth 1.7 million Singapore Dollars with Karti’s company and it is also said to have an investment in the company. Pearl Dubai FX LLC, another Dubai-based company also has financial transactions with the Advantage.
The investigation team has got the details of the investment of 400000 Singapore Dollars made by Somerset Surridge Ltd, a subsidiary set up by Advantage in British Virgin Island (BVI).
Kirti’s company had also made a deal worth $12 million, entered into joint venture with a Singapore firm Gravitas Investments, Match Point International Tennis Events. This was to buy a franchise tennis team called ‘Manila Mavericks’.
Officials have found that all these deals were executed in 2006 after the Aircel- Maxis deal.
The documents show that Karti Chidambaram acquired a huge amount of wealth from 2006 to 2014 when his father P Chidambaram was the finance minister of India.
The officials are also planning to question Karti Chidambaram in connection with the alleged transactions.
Reacting to the raids conducted by the officials, P Chidambaram had said that the BJP government was targeting him.
“My family and I are quite prepared to face the malicious onslaught launched by the government. If the government wants to target me, it should do so directly,” he said.