No allegations against me: Chidambaram tells Delhi High Court during bail hearing

Source: indiatoday.in

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, arrested in the INX Media corruption case, told the Delhi High Court on Monday that he is not named as an accused in the FIR filed in the case in 2017.

In his bail plea, Chidambaram told Delhi High Court that there are no allegations or evidence against him suggesting that he was involved in the INX Media case.

“This is an offence of 2007. The FIR was filed in 2017. I am not named as an accsued in the FIR. No allegations have been made against me. I moved anticipatory bail in the High Court and was granted interim relief,” Chidambaram told the court.

Chidambaram’s lawyer Kapil Sibal also told the court that the former finance minister is “a law abiding citizen”.

Earlier in the day, Chidambaram filed an affidavit in the Delhi High Court opposing the stand of CBI that he is at “flight risk”.

In a rejoinder to CBI’s reply on his bail plea, Chidambaram said that a look out circular (LOC) has already been issued against him and it is preposterous to allege that he is a flight risk and can evade the process of law.

Denying CBI’s charges that the INX Media case was a case of betrayal of public trust at large, Chidambaram said that the Rs 305 crore that came to INX media as foreign direct investment was well within the approval percentage of 46.216 per cent.

Earlier, the CBI had said the gravity of offences committed by Chidambaram for which he is being investigated does not entitle him to seek any relief.

The investigating agency also said that this would not only be against the ‘zero tolerance policy on corruption’ but would also be setting a very wrong precedence in all corruption cases.

Chidambaram, who was arrested on August 21 by the CBI from his Jor Bagh residence, is currently lodged at the Tihar Jail under judicial custody.

The CBI had registered an FIR on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram’s tenure as the finance minister.

Thereafter, the ED lodged a money laundering case in this regard in 2017.