Chennai | The Congress candidate from Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu for the April 18 Lok Sabha polls, Karti Chidambaram, has declared movable and immovable assets valued at around Rs 47 crore.
Karti, son of senior Congress leader and former Union Minister P Chidambaram, had unsuccessfully contested from the same Lok Sabha segment in 2014.
Facing probe by Central agencies like CBI and ED in the Aircel-Maxis and INX Media cases, Karti, however, declared in his affidavit that charges have not been framed in any of these.
Besides these, a local court was looking into an Income Tax case on alleged non-disclosure of part of sale of lands received in cash, he said in his poll affidavit filed along with his nomination papers.
He said there were a total of eight pending cases against him, including some local ones, though “no charges have been framed in any of these.”
Karti’s annual income showed a nominal increase in the last five years. While it was a little over Rs 1.68 crore in FY 2013-14, it rose to Rs 1.75 crore in FY 2017-18.
In his affidavit, he declared that the gross total value of his movable assets stood at Rs 24.13 crore.
The current market value of his immovable assets was Rs 22.88 crore. This included his joint ownership in a UK property, the affidavit said.
In addition to these, he owned agricultural land in Karnataka and a commercial building in Chennai, Karti said.
His grand total liabilities stood at Rs 8,97,44,503.
Earlier, Karti’s nomination to the seat, represented by his father in the past, had created a controversy with another party leader EM Sudarsana Nacthiappan taking exception to the AICC’s decision.
The former Union Minister had alleged that the people of Sivaganga “hate that entire family (P Chidambaram’s family) as they have not done any good” for the constituency.
On February 7, this year Karti Chidambaram was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate in connection with a money laundering probe against him in the INX Media case.
Officials had said Karti was summoned to record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. He was questioned a number of times in the case in the past.
The ED had attached Karti’s assets worth an estimated Rs 54 crore, located in India and abroad, in the case last year.
The central probe agency had registered the PMLA case on the basis of a CBI FIR and had alleged irregularities in the Foreign Investment Promotion Board clearance to INX Media for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007, when his father P Chidambaram was the finance minister.
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