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The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Congress MP Karti P. Chidambaram, seeking his response to a plea filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) challenging the Delhi High Court's decision to defer the framing of charges under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in the Chinese visa scam and Aircel-Maxis deal cases.
The order was passed by a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi, who stated that the High Court acted a little prematurely in its decision to defer the PMLA charge proceedings. The Court was of the view that a predicate offence trial could have been allowed to take place. The Delhi High Court had, in its decision, underscored the need for careful examination of whether proceedings under the PMLA can progress to the framing of charges before charges in the predicate offence are formally established. The DHC judge, Justice Ravinder Dudeja, in an order issued on April 9, had observed that the discharge of the petitioner in the predicate offence would, prima facie, have a significant impact on the trial of the PMLA case. The court noted that if the petitioner is discharged in the predicate offence, the charge of money laundering against him would not stand. Emphasising the need for further deliberation, Justice Dudeja directed the Special (PMLA) Judge to postpone the arguments on the framing of charges to a date beyond the one set by the High Court. The plea moved by Karti Chidambaram contested the trial court's rejection of his application to delay the proceedings, highlighting the necessity of resolving the predicate offences before advancing further. In the Aircel-Maxis case, the ED initiated proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, against Karti Chidambaram, M/s Advantage Strategic Consulting Pvt. Ltd. (ASCPL), and others. This action was based on an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) recorded following an FIR filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for alleged offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, according to an ED press statement. In the Chinese Visa scam case, the 2022 ED investigation revolves around allegations of Rs 50 lakh being paid as kickbacks to Karti Chidambaram and his close associate, S.Bhaskararaman. The payment was allegedly made by a senior executive of Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd. (TSPL), which was involved in setting up a power plant in Punjab, as per the CBI FIR. (ANI)
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