Reacting to reports in a section of the media, the former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said a canard was being spread that his son Karti had refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate.
“That is not true. The canard is intended to discredit me and harass the members of my family,” he said in response to a media report.
Mr. Chidambaram said Mr. Karti received a summons that did not refer to any case or scheduled offence or crime or what were the “proceeds of crime” that were being investigated.
“Therefore, referring to Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, he sought information about the offence under the PMLA in respect of which he was required to appear. Unfortunately, there has been no response from the ED,” he said.
The former Minister said Mr. Karti had made it clear in the reply that if the ED gave particulars of the offence under the PMLA that was being investigated, he would certainly answer all questions pertaining to that said offence. “I repeat that he will answer all questions provided he is told the offence that is being investigated. The allegation that Karti is not cooperating with the ED is baseless,” he said.
‘Reasons conveyed’
Agency sources, however,' said they had conveyed to Mr. Karti the specific reasons for which he had been summoned.
