The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has sent Letters Rogatory (judicial requests) to the UK and Singapore in connection with its money-laundering probe in the Aircel-Maxis deal case and parallel investigations in the financial transactions of some companies belonging to friends of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s son Karti.
The agency, along with the Income Tax department, had conducted multiple searches in Chennai and Bengaluru in this case in the recent past and the LRs, sources said, aim to obtain further details on these firms which the Enforcement Directorate is also probing for alleged contraventions of
forex laws.
The sources said the latest probe also pertains to firms identified as Advantage Strategic Consulting Private Limited and Chess Global Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, where Karti had been a director, and few others for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The agency had conducted search and seizure operations on the business premises of Chess Global firm in Chennai in the presence of Karti last December. The LRs, they said, are expected to throw more light on the complex web of operations of these firms which are spread to over a dozen countries, including the UK and Singapore.