P Chidambaram Is No Holy Cow, Time To Come Clean Now

The CBI today raided the residences of former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti. Instead of crying political vendetta, it’s time for Chidambaram to come clean.

Former finance minister P Chidambaram and his son Karti Chidambaram today woke up to the knock of the CBI at their doors. That was at 6.30 am.

In a swift move, the CBI raided at least 14 locations across Chennai. The raids were in connection with foreign investments received by INX Media formerly owned by Peter Mukerjee.

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Chidambaram was up on his feet crying the usual lines of political vendetta. He said the raids were a  move by the government to silence his voice.

The former finance minister should know that such raids are conducted only when there is either concrete evidence or leads. Having been the finance minister and Union Home Minister, Chidambaram should be knowing about the decision making processes before the CBI conducts raids on high profile people.

Mr Chidambaram, you are not a holy cow. As a citizen, you are bound by the rules. If the CBI or the investigating authorities have any suspicion, allow them to do their duty rather than running for political cover. As you used to say on many occasions when you were in power: let the law take its own course.

In a statement issued later, P Chidambaram said:

“FIPB approval is granted in hundreds of cases. The five Secretaries who constitute the FIPB, the officials of the FIPB Secretariat and the competent authority in each case are the public officials. There is no allegation against any of them. There is no allegation against me.

Every case was processed according to law and approval was granted or refused in accordance with the recommendations of the FIPB consisting of five Secretaries of the Government of India.

The government, using the CBI and other agencies, is targeting my son and his friends. The government’s aim is to silence my voice and stop me from writing, as it has tried to do in the cases of leaders of Opposition parties, journalists, columnists, NGOs, and civil society organisations. All I will say is, I shall continue to speak and write.”

If that is the case, why fear? If you are clean, Mr Chidambaram, why worry? If you have nothing to hide, why cry vendetta? Put all your financial transactions on public domain.

Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan, speaking to news channels, said: “What have you been doing for three years? If there were serious charges, go ahead. If you have evidence, establish it. You are destroying reputations. The people of India are watching this. You are still trying to fish and find out.”

Destroying reputations, Vadakkan? What reputation does Chidambaram have for the CBI to destroy?

Today’s raid follows the show-cause notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate in April this year to Karti Chidambaram and a firm purportedly linked to him for alleged violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). The violation is reportedly to the tune of Rs 45 crore.

The agency had issued a similar notice to Chennai-based M/s Vasan Health Care Private Limited for alleged FEMA violation of more than Rs 2,100 crore.

Rumour is that Karti had parked his money in Vasan and INX Media. The ED is probing Chidambaram for granting an FIPB approval in the Aircel-Maxis case.

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