Why Chidambaram’s ED custody is crucial?

NEW DELHI: The custodial interrogation of former finance minister P Chidambaram by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is crucial as recording of statements under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is an admissible evidence in court unlike a statement recorded by the CBI under section 161 of the CrPC which has not much legal standing on its own and cannot be held against an accused during prosecution.The Director of ED has the same powers as in a civil court.
On Thursday, Chidambaram was sent to judicial custody in Tihar prison for 14 days by a CBI special court in Delhi after his custodial remand to CBI was over. The ED, say sources, was not in hurry to take him in its custody and may apply for his custodial interrogation later.
There are other reasons too, that make an ED custody a nightmare for an accused. While in ED custody, an accused is questioned all day at its office and later sent to lock up in nearby police station to spend the night. In Chidambaram’s case, it would have been the Tughlaq Road police station or the one at Tilak Marg, before the questioning is resumed the next morning. At the police lock-up, an ED official is also posted during the night to keep additional watch.
Spending nights at police lock ups with petty criminals is worse than spending time in CBI custody where it is more like a guest house stay.
The ED’s probe is more thorough on financial transactions based on evidence gathered from within the country and from foreign jurisdictions. In Chidambaram’s INX Media money laundering case, the ED has already attached assets worth over Rs 54 crore in India and abroad, including his son’s bank deposits and properties in UK and Spain. These attachments have been confirmed by the adjudicating authority of PMLA, which means prima facie the judicial authorities have found the attachments bona fide based on evidence of money laundering provided by the agency.
In the INX Media money laundering case, the ED has accused the former FM of allegedly granting “illegal foreign investment promotion board approvals” to several companies bring in foreign direct investments and in return have received more than Rs 300 crore as kickbacks in shell companies operated by his son and Lok Sabha MP Karti Chidambaram.
According to ED, the deposits in these shell companies have been used for meeting personal expenditure of P Chidambaram and Karti Chidambaram and in opening and depositing in more than two dozen foreign bank accounts besides purchasing several properties in Malaysia, UK and Spain.
“The shell company of Karti Chidambaram has received huge payments from a company located in British Virgin Islands (BVI),” a source said, adding that the BVI company has also figured in the agency’s probe in the Panama papers in which a lot of Indian corporates have been under scanner for operating shell companies and siphoning off tax evaded income.