The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday attached assets worth Rs 54 crore of Karti Chidambaram in, son of former finance minister P Chidambaram, in India, UK and Spain in the INX media money laundering case, officials said.

The matter pertains to grant of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to firm M/S Global Communication Holding Services Ltd for investment in Aircel.

Advertisement

The central probe agency issued a provisional order under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for attachment of Indian assets in Kodaikanal and Ooty in Tamil Nadu and a flat in Delhi’s Jorbagh.

A cottage and house in Somerset in UK and a tennis club located in Barcelona, Spain have also been attached as part of the same order, the agency said.

Fixed Deposits worth Rs 90 lakh, kept in a bank in Chennai, in the name of Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited (ASCPL) have also been attached, it said.

The assets are in the name of Karti and ASCPL, the firm allegedly linked to him, it said.

“The attached assets collectively amount to Rs 54 crore,” it said.

Karti Chidambaram termed the seizure as “bizzare and outlandish which is not based on law or facts”. He said this is meant only to grab “headlines”.

A bizarre and outlandish ”Provisional Attachment Order” which is not based on law or facts but on crazy conjectures. This is meant only to grab ”headlines”. The ”order” will not withstand judicial scrutiny, review or appeal. Will approach the appropriate legal forum. https://t.co/LP7BnoGAgY

— Karti P Chidambaram (@KartiPC) October 11, 2018

It has been alleged that Karti illegally took service charges for getting the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance to the INX Media for receiving funds from abroad worth Rs 305 crore in 2007 when P Chidambaram was the finance minister in the Congress-led UPA Government.

The ED had grilled Karti multiple times in this case in the past.

(With PTI inputs)