Karti Chidambaram denies visa scam allegations, calls them 'fabricated'
May 24, 2022
New Delhi [India], May 24 : Congress MP Karti Chidambaram, who has been named in an FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (SBI) in an alleged visa scam case, on Tuesday denied all charges and termed them to be fabricated.
On his way to home from a scheduled trip abroad, Karti said that he would "fight malicious, patently false accusations. The truth shall prevail."
"It does not intimidate me that the central govt is once again using its agencies to accuse me of malicious and completely fabricated charge... I'm not associated with this visa issue... I deny these allegations," he said in a statement.
Karti has been directed to appear before the CBI within 16 hours of his return.
Saying that the case does not intimidate him, Karti said, "...the central government is once again using its agencies to accuse me of malicious and completely fabricated charge. Previously, the agencies have gone after me based on the statement of an undertrial murder suspect. Now, they are basing their bogus charges on the alleged actions of a deceased person, whom I have never met. I continue to fight every one of their motivated attempts to target my father through me."
Karti further said he had no relationship with any of the corporate entities mentioned in the FIR in which he had been named.
"I say with certainty that I have never facilitated even a single Chinese national in their visa process, let alone 250," his statement read.
He also claimed to have no knowledge of the procedures, process and formalities that needed to be fulfilled to obtain visas related to project work in India. "I know no person who has the authority to issue such visas."
On May 20, a Delhi court directed the CBI to give a three-day prior notice to the Congress MP, if the need to arrest him in connection with the case arise.
The case is related to an alleged bribe of Rs 50 lakh paid for clearing visas of 263 Chinese nationals working at Talwandi Sabo Power Ltd in Punjab.
The incident reportedly took place in 2011 when Karti's father was the Union Home minister in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.
