CBI chargesheets Karti Chidambaram, others in Chinese visa ‘scam’ case

The CBI has filed its chargesheet against Congress MP Karti Chidambaram in connection with the Chinese visa ‘scam’ case. The document also named several other entities including Talwandi Sabo Power — a subsidiary of the Vedanta Group — and key accused S Bhaskararaman. The chargesheet alleges corruption in grant of approval from the Home Ministry for re-use of visas for Chinese experts.
Charges of criminal conspiracy, cheating, and forgery have been levelled against those named in the chargesheet under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The case pertains to an alleged scam involving the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 — while his father and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram was the Union Home Minister.
The probe agency also claims Chidambaram and his ‘front man’ Bhaskararaman indulged in the collection of undue payments for settling issues pending with the offices under the influence of P Chidambaram as minister in various ministries.
CBI chargesheet was filed after two years of investigation following an FIR registered in 2022. Punjab-based TSPL had waded into difficulties while setting up a 1980 MW thermal power plant whose work was outsourced to a Chinese company called Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp. The project was running behind its schedule and the company was allegedly facing prospects of penalty. 
“They devised a back-door way to defeat the purpose of the ceiling (maximum of project visas permissible to the company’s plant) by granting permission to re-use 263 project visas allotted to the said Chinese company’s officials,” the agency had said after the registration of FIR and searches.
The development comes mere months after the Sivaganga MP received bail from a Delhi court in connection with a money laundering case. The Enforcement Directorate had previously alleged that Chidambaram took a ₹50 lakh bribe through a close aide in order to facilitate Home Ministry sanction for reuse of visas for Chinese personnel. The group had been working for Talwandi Sabo as it established a power plant in Punjab. The ED also claimed that the money was channeled into a company controlled by the politician through a ‘fictitious’ cash transaction.
The ED registered its case under the provisions of the (PMLA) following an FIR lodged by the CBI in the same case. Officials however indicate that the volume of laundered money is yet to be ascertained. According to the ED, the alleged bribe payment of ₹50 lakh that was noted in the CBI case cannot be considered as the basis of the present case.
(With inputs from agencies)