While approvals from the Finance Ministry have been late, the wheels of law are moving again against the Chidambaram family

Nalini Chidambaram Chargesheeted on Saradha Scam

At last, after more than six months a busy Finance Minister Arun Jaitley found time to give Sanction for Prosecution of five officers, co-accused with tainted corrupt former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. One of the accused, former Finance Secretary Ashok Chawla, who is currently heading the National Stock Exchange (NSE) resigned, hours after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officers provided Sanction for Prosecution to 2G Court Judge O P Saini, who was for the past six months warning the agency.

…the Finance Ministry has not yet provided Sanction for Prosecution to CBI in INX Media FIPB illegal clearance case. CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have questioned Chidambaram and Karti several times and are waiting to file the Chargesheet, after getting Sanction for Prosecution against co-accused officials in the FIPB.

Friday (January 11) was a bad day for the Chidambaram family. Nalini, the wife of P Chidambaram, was also chargesheeted by the CBI in Saradha Chit Fund scam for accepting a bribe of Rs.1.4 crores from the Chit fund owner Sudipta Sen. Nalini, who is also a holding Senior Advocate title from the Supreme Court like her husband Chidambaram, was trying every which legal way for the past three years to block the agency from taking her statement, a basic pre-condition for Chargesheeting. She is chargesheeted in by CBI in Kolkata court which will make her a frequent flier to the eastern part of the country.

Even her friends from the community staged protests once asking as to how an advocate can be fixed for accepting fees. But facts state otherwise. Nalini accepted money from the opposite party, while forcing the opposite party (chit fund owner) to buy the firm owned by her client Manoranjana Sinh, who is already chargesheeted and out on bail now after months’ long imprisonment[1].

The chargesheet, which was filed in the special CBI court in the Barasat court in Kolkata, has alleged that Nalini “entered into a criminal conspiracy with Sudipta Sen, the proprietor of the Saradha group, and other accused persons with an intention of cheating and misappropriation of funds of the Saradha group of companies,” a CBI spokesperson in New Delhi said.

The CBI alleged that Manoranjana Sinh, now estranged wife of former Union minister Matang Sinh, introduced Sen to Nalini Chidambaram to manage probes by various agencies like the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Registrar of Companies (RoC) against him for which she allegedly received Rs 1.4 crores during 2010-12 through his companies. This clearly shows that Nalini was misusing her husband Chidambaram’s position as Finance and Home Minister from 2004 to 2014.

In this chargesheet, Anubhuti Printers and Publications Private Limited and Sen are co-accused along with Nalini Chidambaram, who could not be reached for a comment.

Nalini is also facing a probe in Chennai for grabbing a hotel from a businessman Kathirvel using Indian Overseas Bank’s corrupt officers. Delhi High Court had recently told CBI to finish the probe on this regard. Kathrivel in his petition produced conversations with Nalini and also documents related to Chidambaram’s intervention. CBI’s Chennai Unit has not yet finished the probe to register the First Information Report (FIR)[2].

At present tainted Chidambaram and family members are facing 10 cases[3]. PGurus has been consistently exposing the frauds and corruptions of Chidambaram and his family.

Aircel-Maxis case

In the Aircel-Maxis case, apart from Chidambaram and son, five Finance Minister Officials were chargesheeted for the illegal Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance. Apart from Ashok Chawla, former Finance Secretary Ashok Jha and two serving IAS officers Kumar Sanjay Krishnan (Assam Cadre), Deepak Kumar Singh (Bihar cadre) and retired Under Secretary Ram Sharan are the accused in the case along with Malaysian firm Maxis owners T Ananda Krishnan and Ralph Marshall.

CBI applied for Sanction for Prosecution around the second week of July and for the past six months the file was pending in the Finance Ministry headed by Arun Jaitley, who is a close buddy of Chidambaram. As per the law, the Sanction for Prosecution requests must be decided within three months. It is intriguing that Arun Jaitley, who himself is a lawyer delayed this illegally. BJP leader Subramanian Swamy, who is the petitioner in the Aircel-Maxis scam many times complained to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the “unexplainable delays from Jaitley’s side.” Due to this delay, the trial has already been delayed by six months in the Aircel-Maxis case.

Meanwhile, the Finance Ministry has not yet provided Sanction for Prosecution to CBI in INX Media FIPB illegal clearance case. CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED) have questioned Chidambaram and Karti several times and are waiting to file the Chargesheet, after getting Sanction for Prosecution against co-accused officials in the FIPB. ED had already attached Rs.55 crores worth (market value expected to be more than 200 crores) properties of Karti and his firms in Delhi, Ooty, London, Spain etc.

References:

[1] Rise and Fall of Indrani and Manoranjana – Apr 19, 2016, PGurus.com

[2] CBI registers Preliminary Enquiry against Chidambaram family in hotel grabbing case – Dec 8, 2017, PGurus.com

[3] Now Ten cases against Chidambaram family. What is CBI, ED, CBDT & Delhi Police doing? Time for PM to intervene – Dec 11, 2017, PGurus.com