P Chidamdbaram (PTI photo)

NEW DELHI: The custodial interrogation of former finance minister P Chidamdbaram by the Enforcement Directorate is crucial as recording of statements under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act ( PMLA ) is an admissible evidence in court unlike a statement recorded by the CBI under section 161 of the CrPC which, on its own, lacks evidentiary value and cannot be held against an accused during prosecution.

The director of ED has the same powers as of a civil court. On Thursday, Chidambaram's lawyer Kapil Sibal said that the former finance minister was ready to be remanded to ED's custody . However, sources in ED indicated that they are in no hurry to take the former finance minister in their custody and might prefer to wait before making him go through custodial interrogation.

Read also: Chidambaram sent to Tihar jail till Sept 19

Also, Chidambaram's new-found willingness to submit himself to custodial interrogation notwithstanding, not many accused wish to be remanded to the custody of the anti-money laundering agency. Once in the custody of ED, an accused is questioned all day at its office and then sent to lock-up in a nearby police station to spend the night before being brought in for a fresh round of questioning the next morning.

In Chidambaram's case, he, while in ED's custody, could be sent to either the Tughlaq Road police station or the one at Tilak Marg. While being a Z-category protectee, Chidambaram is unlikely to be put up in a regular lock-up along with others, police locksups, including in the" modern" police stations of the capital are a far cry from the room Chidambaram stayed in while in CBI custody.

The room inside CBI headquarters was more like a guest house than a lock-up.

At the police lock-up, an ED official is also posted during the night to keep additional watch.

Read also: Tamil Nadu cops on Tihar security will not guard Chidamdbaram’s cell

The ED's probe into financial transactions is more intense, based on evidences gathered from within the country and from foreign jurisdictions. In Chidambaram's INX Media money laundering case , the agency attached assets worth over Rs 54 crore within the country and abroad, including bank deposits and properties in Spain and UK allegedly belonging to his son, Congress MP Karti.

These attachments have been confirmed by the adjudicating authority of PMLA--something which is cited by ED sources to claim that their actions have been found to be prima facie correct by judicial and other authorities in other countries.

In the INX Media money laundering case, the ED has accused the former FM of allegedly granting "illegal foreign investment promotion board approvals" to several companies to bring in foreign direct investments. In exchange, the minister, ED has alleged, received Rs 300 crore as kickbacks in shell companies operated by Karti.

According to ED, the deposits in these shell companies have been used for meeting personal expenditure of Chidambarams and in opening and depositing in more than two dozen foreign bank accounts besides purchasing several properties in Malaysia, UK and Spain.

"The shell company of Karti Chidambaram has received huge payments from a company located in British Virgin Islands (BVI)," a source alleged adding that the BVI company has also figured in the agency's probe in the Panama papers in which a lot of Indian corporates have been under the scanner for operating shell companies and siphoning off tax evaded income.



In Video: INX Media case: P Chidambaram sent to jail till September 19