ED raids against Karti a comedy of errors, says P Chidambaram

Speaking to newsmen, Chidambaram said the  the agency had no jurisdiction to probe the matter under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). 

"They (ED officials) searched and found nothing but since they had to justify themselves they took papers of a statement made by the government in the Parliament, a few years back." the senior Congress leader  said.

"There is no FIR registered concerning a scheduled crime by any investigating agency and hence, the ED has no jurisdiction to probe the case under PMLA," he added.

Chidambaram said  he had already anticipated that the ED might conduct such a raid in Chennai. "...But in a comedy of errors they came to Jor Bagh (Delhi) and officers told me that they thought Karti is an occupant of this house but he is not."

Chidambaram added that his Chennai residence has been raided three times by different probe agencies but in vain. 

Last year, in May, a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act was registered against Karti and others by the ED. 

The ED had on  Thursday issued fresh summons to Karti  for appearing before it on January 16 in connection with the money laundering case.

He had earlier skipped his appearance before the agency.

The case,  registered in May, 2017 pertains to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2006 by the then Finance Minister  P Chidambaram.

The agency has alleged that Karti Chidambaram received money from INX Media for using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it in a case of violation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) conditions to receive investment from Mauritius.

The CBI has said it has also recovered vouchers of Rs 10 lakh which were allegedly paid for the services.