'Sanction not taken' P Chidambaram moves Delhi HC against INX media chargesheet cognisance

New Delhi, Nov 27 (PTI) Former union minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the cognisance of money laundering charges against him by a trial court in the INX Media case and argued the mandatory sanction to prosecute him wasn't obtained.
     Senior counsel N Hariharan appearing for the Congress leader argued that in 2021, when the trial court took cognisance of the offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) following the filing of a chargesheet, requisite sanction was not been obtained by the ED for prosecuting him in the case.
     It was argued that since Chidambaram was a public servant at the time when the alleged offence took place, the agency was bound to have obtained sanction in terms of the provisions of the CrPC and the PMLA.
     The ED counsel said in the money laundering case, the allegations against the accused could not be part of discharge of any official duty.
     Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri would heard the case on November 28.
     The CBI registered the case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as the finance minister.
     Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI in the INX Media corruption case on August 21, 2019. On October 16 in the same year, the ED arrested him in a related money-laundering case.
     Hariharan, along with lawyers Arshdeep Singh Khurana and Akshat Gupta, said the trial court erred in taking cognisance on March 24, 2021 without the ED taking prior sanction to prosecute him. The plea, therefore, urged the court to quash the cognisance as well as all consequential proceedings in the matter.
     The plea argued without such a sanction from the authorities, the trial court had no jurisdiction to proceed with the matter.
     The high court recently stayed the trial court proceedings against Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case lodged by the ED after he made a similar challenge against the chargesheet cognisance.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)