Karti Chidambaram gets 3 days' relief in 2011 bribe-for-visa case
India Today
A special CBI court has granted Karti Chidambaram three days' relief in a 2011 bribery case.
Former Union minister's son Karti Chidambaram has been granted three days' interim relief by a special CBI court in the 2011 bribe-for-visa case.
Earlier, Karti Chidambaram had filed an anticipatory bail plea before the court.
CBI judge MK Nagpal issued the notice to the CBI and is slated to hear the matter next on May 30.
The home ministry allegedly cleared illegal visa use for Chinese nationals in return for Karti Chidambaram’s bribes in 2011 under the UPA government. The Talwandi Sabo Power Limited was in the process of establishing a 1,980 MW thermal power plant in Mansa Punjab. The establishment was outsourced to a Chinese company called Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp (Sepco).
The project was running behind schedule. So, in order to avoid penal action for the delay, Talwandi Sabo Power Limited was trying to bring in more Chinese professionals to the site.
This required project Visas over and above the ceiling imposed by the Ministry of Home Affairs. So, the company approached Karti Chidambaram through his close associates. They allegedly devised a back door to defeat the purpose of visa ceiling by granting permission to re-use 263 project visas allotted to the Chinese company’s officials.
The permission for this devious Visa grant to Chinese professionals was approved by the home ministry in the month of application. Karti Chidambaram was allegedly paid in crores through false invoices by a company which made industrial knives, citing consultancy services and Visa work.
