Karti Chidambaram faces allegations of taking bribe over visas to Chinese
Congress MP Karti Chidambaram has been summoned by the Central Bureau of Investigation for questioning tomorrow in an alleged visa scam case. Mr Chidambaram was to join investigation within 16 hours after he returned from Britain as per the court order.
The son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram had gone to the UK with permission of the Supreme Court and a special CBI court.
According to the allegations, Rs 50 lakh was paid as bribe to Karti Chidambaram and his close aide S Bhaskararaman by a top executive of Vedanta group company Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd (TSPL), which was setting up a power plant in Punjab.
The CBI in its First Information Report, or FIR, said the work for setting up the power project was being executed by a Chinese company and was running behind schedule.
A TSPL executive sought re-issuance of project visa for 263 Chinese workers for which Rs 50 lakh allegedly exchanged hands, according to the CBI FIR.
Karti Chidambaram has denied all the allegations. "If this is not harassment, not a witch hunt, then what is?" the Congress MP said in a statement yesterday.
Mr Makharia allegedly gave a letter to the Home Ministry in July 2011, seeking to reuse the project visas allotted to his company, which was approved within a month, as per the CBI's FIR.