The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has written to the UK, Mauritius, Singapore, Bermuda and Switzerland governments seeking information on alleged payments to former finance minister P Chidambaram that have been parked in ‘several companies abroad’.
Sources in the CBI said that payments have allegedly been made to Chidambaram in lieu of granting Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) approvals during his tenure as the Finance Minister.
“CBI is also investigating a trail of payments in several companies abroad and letters rogatory have been sent to the concerned countries which will throw light on such transactions linked with the FIPB scam,” said CBI sources.
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Judicial assistance
A letter rogatory is a formal request from a court to a foreign court for some form of judicial assistance. The most common remedies sought by these letters are the service of process and taking of evidence.
A CBI special court on Thursday remanded Chidambaram to CBI custody till August 26. He was arrested by the agency in the INX Media case on Wednesday. His family and lawyers are permitted to meet him for an hour everyday.
His son, Karti Chidambaram, and wife, Nalini Chidambaram, met him on Friday. After coming out from the CBI headquarters in Delhi, Karti said that both he and his father who are being investigated are not corrupt. He refused to comment on the merits of the case and accusations that Chidambaram was not co-operating with the CBI.
Karti said that his father is in good spirits. On whether he is facing any problems in CBI custody, Karti said, “Nothing. He just wanted some books to read, I’ve given him the book Sapiens , and he was reading it.”