SC allows Karti Chidambaram to travel abroad

New Delhi, May 7 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Congress leader Karti Chidambaram to travel to the UK and the US between May 9 and 21 and to Germany and Spain in June. The Enforcement Directorate is investigating Karti Chidambaram in criminal cases.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said the present order was "subject to compliance of conditions imposed earlier".

The court also asked Karti Chidambaram to pay Rs 10 cr surety. Senior advocate K.V. Vishwanathan, appearing for him, sought exemption from paying the surety and told the court that Rs 10 cr was paid last time when he had gone abroad.

The CJI told the the counsel: "Your client has the capacity to pay. Let him pay."

In January, the court granted Karti Chidambaram, son of senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, permission to travel abroad, after he deposited Rs 10 crore with the Secretary General of the court.

The court also asked him to come on record that he would eventually return and cooperate in the investigation.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) are probing how Karti Chidambaram got clearance from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for the Aircel-Maxis deal in 2006 when his father was the Union Finance Minister.

The ED on October 25, 2018 had filed a chargesheet naming him and a few others in the case.

Last July, the CBI filed another chargesheet against 18 persons.

One of the cases include Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to INX Media for Rs 305 core of foreign funds, when his father was the Finance Minister.