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NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate has asked the income tax department to initiate fresh cases under the stringent Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) Act against Karti Chidambaram , the son of former finance minister P Chidambaram , after the agency came across two bank accounts in London which Karti allegedly did not mention to either investigating agencies or in his I-T returns.

The documents in ED’s possession, sources claim, show that Karti had opened two bank accounts in London in June 2016. He closed both in June 2017 when CBI and ED investigations against him for allegedly receiving bribes in the Aircel Maxis case started gathering momentum. When confronted with the “evidence” during his questioning by the ED at its Delhi zonal office on April 10, 2018, Karti allegedly admitted to having opened the two bank accounts in London and closing them next year.

The ED has forwarded to the I-T department the details of its investigation which is considered as crucial evidence against Karti for his failure to disclose foreign bank accounts. When contacted, Karti said he had earlier informed the SC that “I had two bank accounts and a lone property in the UK”. “A scrutiny of the foreign assets of Karti Chidambaram in the I-T returns filed by him shows that Karti had not disclosed these accounts which is mandatory for any Indian having overseas bank accounts,” a source said.

The I-T department has already filed four prosecution cases against Karti Chidambaram, his mother Nalini and wife Srinidhi earlier this month under the black money act in connection with properties purchased and investments made in UK and US to the tune of Rs 9.45 crore. However, the four cases did not include two bank accounts Karti maintained in London. Under the provision of the new black money Act, non-disclosure of assets is punishable with “rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to seven years and with fine.”

The prosecution cases showed investments made by the family members of P Chidambaram in acquiring a property in Cambridge worth about Rs 5.37 crore, besides two other investments made by Karti worth over Rs 4 crore. Other than the Cambridge property, Karti had allegedly invested in a company in the US worth over Rs 3.28 crore through his Chess Global Advisory Services Pvt Ltd which the department claims is associated with him and he is the beneficiary of the deal.

Karti has made another alleged investment of Rs 80 lakh in a company in the UK. After cases were slapped against them, Chidambaram’s family members had claimed that they had revised I-T returns to disclose the Cambridge property and Karti’s two investments. However, a senior I-T official said the returns were revised after the I-T probe unearthed the details during their search and seizure operations and thus made them liable for prosecution.

