I will neither bend nor break, says Chidambaram on ED raids : The Tribune India

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I will neither bend nor break, says Chidambaram on ED raids

NEW DELHI: Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday termed the ED raids against his son “a comedy of errors” and claimed the officers were left “embarrassed” and “apologetic” as they could not find anything.

I will neither bend nor break, says Chidambaram on ED raids

Congress leader and former finance minister P Chidambaram.



Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, January 13

Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram said on Saturday that he will not be intimidated in the wake of ED raids on his Delhi and Chennai residences.
In a statement today, Chidambaram said he would continue to write and speak.

“This morning the Enforcement Directorate searched my residence in Delhi as well as my family's residence in Chennai. Nothing was found. The panchnamas speak for themselves. Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued notices to the ED in cases where the submission is that the ED has no jurisdiction to conduct any investigation in the so-called Aircel-Maxis case. The ED was asked to file its reply and the cases were adjourned to January 30. There is no FIR against me or my son in the Aircel-Maxis case. There is no predicate scheduled offence. Hence the ED has no jurisdiction. Yet the ED, at the instance of the government, continues to misuse its powers,” Chidambaram said, adding he would “neither bend nor break”.

“Let the government misuse the ED. I shall neither bend nor break and I shall continue to speak and write,” he said.

He said earlier that ED officials who came to search the house were left "embarrassed" at having found nothing.

“They have searched premises in Chennai again but in a comedy of errors they came to search my premises in Jorbagh. Officers told me that they believed that Karti was an occupant of the house. I told them he is a resident of Chennai and I am the occupant of this house,” Chidambaram told reporters.

“Since they had the search warrant, I did not raise any objections to the search but I said I will record my protest that there is no FIR in respect of the scheduled crime registered by any investigating agency including the CBI. There are obviously no proceeds of crime and the ED has no jurisdiction under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA)," he added.

The former finance minister said that the ED officials searched the place, “including the kitchen and the bathroom and obviously they found nothing. They were embarrassed and apologetic that they found me as the occupant but they had no option but to complete the search”.

“Since they had to justify the search, they took some background papers related to a statement made by the government in Parliament in 2012-13. In Chennai also they found nothing, seized nothing," he claimed.

The Congress leader also made a tongue and cheek remark, saying "I will compliment them (investigating agencies) if they are able to find anything (objectionable) in raids in future".

The central probe agency had, on December 1 last year, conducted similar searches on the premises of a relative of Karti and others in this case.

The ED case pertains to the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approval granted in 2006 by P Chidambaram, the then finance minister. With PTI

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