The Central Bureau of Investigation has filed a FIR against, former finance minister P Chidambaram’s son, Karti Chidambaram. He is charged with the allegations of receiving payoff for facilitating foreign investment clearance for INX Media (now know as 9X media) in 2008, criminal conspiracy, cheating and corruption. M/s INX Media (P) Ltd., represented by its then directors Indrani Mukherjea and Pritam Mukherjea alias Peter Mukherjea; Chess Management Services (represented through its director Mr. Karti Chidambaram); Advantage Strategic Consultancy (P) Ltd., represented through its director Padma Vishwanathan and unknown Finance Ministry officials are also accused of being involved in the conspiracy.
During the search operation across 14 locations in Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Gurgaon, the CBI has seized hard disks, emails and documents.
According to the CBI, ₹4.62 crore were approved to INX Media in May 2007 by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and it was also cleared at that time to INX Media that they would need a separate approval for the downstream investment. However, instead of going through the process of a separate approval, INX Media made a downstream investment and generated ₹305 crore by sale of shares at a premium of ₹800 a unit.
When the matter came to light, the Income Tax Department and the FIPB sought an explanation from INX Media. The company then went to Karti Chidambaram to seek advice and help them out of this situation. Under the influence if Karti, the FIPB not only ignored illegal ways of INX Media but also showed them their cooperation by suggesting them to again apply for the downstream investment. The FIR also mentions about Advantage Strategic Consulting (ASCPL), receiving an amount of ₹10 lakh from INX Media as management consultancy charge towards FIPB notification and clarification.