Big Blow to Karti Chidambaram: Tribunal Upholds ED's Rs 22-Crore Asset Attachment in INX Media Case

In a setback to Congress leader Karti Chidambaram, the PMLA Appellate Tribunal, in its final order, dismissed his plea and upheld the Enforcement Directorate’s attachment order of his movable and immovable

assets.The attachment of assets includes a part of the Jor Bagh house and was made in the money-laundering probe revolving around INX Media.In an order dated October 29, the tribunal comprising members (Judicial) Rajesh Malhotra and (Administrative) Balesh Kumar said, “Prosecution complaint was filed on June 1, 2020, more than 365 days after the Adjudicating Authority confirmation dated March 29, 2019. The period between March 15, 2020, and February 28, 2022, stood excluded for all judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings owing to pandemic-related restrictions.”The ED case stems from the CBI’s FIR filed in 2017. In February 2018, the CBI arrested Karti Chidambaram as soon as he landed from London at Chennai International Airport. A year later, in August 2019, former finance minister P. Chidambaram was first arrested by the CBI and later by the ED in Tihar Jail.In 2018, the anti-money laundering agency attached assets belonging to Karti Chidambaram and a company allegedly linked to him. Attached assets include a part share of a house in Jor Bagh and movable assets in the form of bank deposits.Appearing for Karti Chidambaram, advocates Arshdeep Khurana, Akshat Gupta, and Sidak Singh Anand contended that the attachment had lapsed automatically as the ED failed to file its complaint within the prescribed 365-day period.They relied on previous tribunal decisions and the Supreme Court’s ruling in S. Kasi v. State to assert that the COVID limitation orders applied only to litigants and not to executive actions like the filing of prosecution complaints.ED counsels Zoheb Hossain, Vivek Gurnani, and Kanishk stressed that “the lockdown had severely restricted movement and functioning of courts.” They maintained that the ED’s action was protected under the Supreme Court’s suo motu order extending limitation during the pandemic.The Appellate Tribunal dismissed the appeal and held that the provisional attachment of Karti Chidambaram’s assets, including his 50% share in the Jor Bagh property in New Delhi valued at ₹16.05 crore and multiple bank accounts with Indian Overseas Bank in Chennai, would continue.The Appellate Tribunal granted relief insofar as the possession of the property is concerned. The Tribunal protected the possession of the property by granting status quo.“The protection given through the interim order dated September 3, 2019, to the residential property of the appellant (Karti Chidambaram) against eviction from the said property and against the notice issued under Section 8(4) of the PMLA, cannot be continued with on the disposal of the appeal,” the Tribunal said.However, relying on the Supreme Court order, the Tribunal added, “The possession can henceforth be taken only if exceptional reasons exist.”