The Madras High Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on an appeal filed by Congress MP Karti Chidambaram challenging the dismissal of his plea against attachment of properties worth ₹1.16 crore in the Aircel-Maxis money laundering case.
The First Bench, consisting of Chief Justice M M Shrivastava and Justice G Arul Murugan, ordered notice to the ED and listed the matter for further hearing after three weeks.
Karti’s appeal questions an order of the appellate tribunal that had refused to interfere with the decision of the Adjudicating Authority, which had confirmed the provisional attachment of his properties under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
In his petition, Karti pointed out that according to the CBI, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), Ministry of Finance, granted approval on March 13, 2006 to M/s Global Communications Services Holdings Limited (Mauritius) to invest in Aircel Ltd.
The CBI later registered an FIR on October 9, 2011 and filed a charge sheet on August 29, 2014. The ED also initiated proceedings under the PMLA. Karti noted that his name “neither appears as an accused nor as a suspect” in either the FIR or the charge sheet.
Despite this, on September 23, 2017, the ED provisionally attached properties belonging to him worth ₹1.16 crore. The Adjudicating Authority subsequently confirmed the attachment.
Karti argued that the appellate tribunal “erroneously dismissed” his appeal. He submitted that as on March 12, 2018 — the date of the confirmation of attachment — no prosecution complaint under the PMLA had been filed.
Because of this, he contended, the statutory limitation was not satisfied and the provisional attachment had already lapsed by operation of law, rendering the confirmation order ineffective.
He further said the ED’s prosecution complaint naming him was filed only on June 13, 2018 and therefore “has no bearing on the instant case.”
The matter will be taken up again after three weeks.
