New Delhi: The CBI has filed a charge sheet against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram and others in connection with alleged bribery in facilitating visas of Chinese nationals for a power company in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the Union home minister, officials said on Thursday.
In its charge sheet submitted before a special court here, the CBI has named Karti Chidambaram, the Lok Sabha MP from Sivaganga, his alleged close associate S Bhaskararaman, company Talawandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), a subsidiary of Vedanta and Mumbai-based Bell Tools, through which bribes were allegedly routed, they said.
The agency has invoked charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery under the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, they said.
The development comes mere months after the Sivaganga MP received bail from a Delhi court in connection with a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate had previously alleged that Chidambaram took a ₹50 lakh bribe through a close aide in order to facilitate Home Ministry sanction for reuse of visas for Chinese personnel.
The group had been working for Talwandi Sabo as it established a power plant in Punjab. The ED also claimed that the money was channeled into a company controlled by the politician through a ‘fictitious’ cash transaction.
The case pertains to an alleged scam involving the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 — while his father and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister.
