The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday told the Madras High Court that the petition of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti should be rejected as the matter comes under the purview of the 2G scam related probe and is under Supreme Court monitoring. The agency was replying to Karti's petition against the summons in Aircel-Maxis scam. In his petition Karti said the agency was trying to discredit him and his father Chidambaram.
"The summons issued to him is motivated by malice in law and malice in fact. He has reasons to believe that there is a determined campaign to bring discredit and harm to the reputation of his father P Chidambaram, who is now a leading member of the Opposition. The summons is part of the attempt to embarrass, humiliate and harass Karti's father and members of his family," said Karti's lawyers led by Gopal Subramaniam. They said Karti's representative will appear before ED. Karti has not yet appeared before ED, even after three notices.
In his petition, Karti has made the Investigating Officer Rajeshwar Singh and ED Chief Karnal Singh as respondents. Countering Karti's arguments, Additional Solicitor General G Rajagopal told the Court that the petition can't be entertained as all the 2G scam related probes were monitored by the Supreme Court. The apex court on two occasions passed orders banning all other courts from this, he said.
After ED's submission, Justice B Rajendran reminded Karti that if the matter comes under 2G related probe, the court could not entertain his petition. Gopal Subramaniam insisted an affidavit from ED regarding this and the matter was posted to September 29. Earlier also Karti has approached the High Court when ED and Income Tax raided his companies in relation to Aircel-Maxis scam.