INX Media Matter: Supreme Court Grants Bail To P Chidambaram In Enforcement Directorate’s Money-Laundering Case
Chidambaram has been in jail for more than 100 days now.
Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram walked out of the Tihar Jail after more than 100 days as the Supreme Court granted him bail in the INX Media case.
“After 106 days of pre-trial incarceration, not a single charge has been framed against me,” Chidambaram said as he walked out.
Several Congress workers greeted the former Union minister after he stepped out of the prison. His son Karti welcomed him as he came out of the prison.
Earlier in the day, the top court bench headed by Justice Banumathi, while granting bail, directed that Chidambaram won’t be allowed to make any comments to the press in relation to the case and would make himself available for investigation whenever required. The bench also ordered Chidambaram to produce a bail bond of Rs 2 lakh and asked him not to leave the country without the court’s permission.
The Supreme Court said there is no material to indicate that Chidambaram has tried to influence any witnesses and if a witness has refused to be confronted with him, the fault cannot lie with the former finance minister. The court also did not agree with the contention that Chidambaram may try to tamper with documentary evidence as the required documents are already in the custody of the investigating agencies.
The top court reiterated the principle that denial of bail has to be an exception. Today’s judgment said though economic offences fall in the category of “grave offences’’, the courts will also have to keep in mind facts of individual cases and then decide on whether to grant bail to an accused. In this particular case, the court said that the triple test applied for bail (whether a person is a flight risk, can he tamper with evidences and whether he can influence witness on him being released from jail) all are in favour of Chidambaram and therefore, he cannot be kept in jail only because he is alleged to have committed an economic offence which is considered a grave offence.
Chidambaram was first arrested on Aug. 21 by the Central Bureau of Investigation over alleged irregularities in the FIPB approval granted to INX Media in 2008.
The CBI filed a chargesheet in the case on Oct. 18, 2019 where it named 14 people as accused, including the former finance minister and his son Karti Chidambaram. The CBI, in its chargesheet, said INX Media received foreign investment of Rs 403 crore at the time it was by law allowed to accept nothing more than Rs 4.62 crore in foreign direct investment. The CBI’s case calls this a violation of the Foreign Exchange Management Act as the investment was not approved by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.
The CBI had charged Chidambaram under sections of the Indian Penal Code dealing with forgery, cheating and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.
Subsequently, the Enforcement Directorate arrested Chidambaram in the INX Media case on Oct. 22. While the former finance minister secured a bail against the CBI proceedings, he was still not allowed to walk out of jail because of the Enforcement Directorate’s proceedings—in which the bail has been granted today.