Karti Chidambaram

Karthik (“Karti”) P. Chidambaram is an Indian politician and businessman. He is a member of the Indian National Congress Party and the All India Congress Committee.

In 2015-16, the New Indian Express and other newspapers uncovered his hidden ownership of a sprawling international network of companies. Government agencies have been investigating those companies' financing and transactions as part of an extensive corruption probe.

Early life and education

Chidambaram's hometown is Sivaganga in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

He was born into a rich merchant family. His mother is Nalini Chidambaram; his father is Palaniappan Chidambaram, who has served as India's Minister of Finance and Minister of Home Affairs and has been the MP of Rajya Sabha for Maharashtra since July 2016.^[1]

Karti Chidambaram was a student at Don Bosco Egmore in Chennai, received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin, and earned a Bachelor of Law from Cambridge University.^[2][3]

Career

Chidambaram's ownership of Chess Management Service, a legal advisory firm, was public knowledge before his other holdings were exposed by the media.^[3]

On May 14, 2012, after it was first alleged that Chidambara had links to a firm called Advantage Strategic Consulting, which had been involved in illegal financial transactions, his father said in Parliament: “It would be much simpler if somebody took a dagger and plunged it into my heart, rather than questioning my integrity.”^[4]

In January 2015, the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee issued a so-called show-cause notice asking why Chidambaram should not be expelled from the party as punishment for praising the “political acumen” of Prime Minister Narenda Modi, the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party. Chiambaram had praised Modi at a recent event in Chennai.^[5]

In April 2015, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched the Bengaluru offices of Sequoia Capital India, the Indian subdivision of a Mauritius-based investment fund, in connection with a probe of Vasan Healthcare Group, which was partly owned by Chidambaram. Sequoia was suspected of abusing India’s foreign direct investment policy.^[6]

It was reported on August 25, 2015, that the ED had summoned two directors of Advantage, Vishwanath Ravi and C.B.N. Reddy, for questioning in Delhi under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. They were interrogated in connection with the Aircel-Maxis case, a corruption scandal that had begun with a 2011 complaint by the owner of Aircel, a communications firm, who said he had been pressured to sell his stake in his company to Maxis, a data firm. The ED said it would later be summoning Chidamabaram himself in connection with the case.^[7]

In a series of articles published in September and October 2015, the New Indian Express charged that Karti Chidambaram was the secret owner, or perhaps co-owner with his father, of a sprawling international network of companies. On September 17, 2015, the newspaper reported that Advantage had bought shares of Vasan Eye Care at a reduced price and had later sold the shares at a huge profit. Chidambaram's name was mentioned in connection with these transactions. On September 21, Chidamabaram's father denied any association between anyone in his family and Vasan and threatened to sue the newspaper. On October 23, the Express produced a tax affidavit supporting its claims.

On December 1, the Income Tax Department and ED raided Vasan's and Chidambaram's offices. The next day, Chidambaram's father said, “We have made it clear, repeatedly, that no member of my family has any equity or economic interest in any of the firms that are being targeted.…I condemn the attempt to link them to my son and harass them on that ground. If the government wants to target me, it should do so directly. My family and I are quite prepared to face the ‘malicious onslaught’ launched by government.” On December 16, the ED seized Chidamabaram's laptop and files. He echoed his father's defense, saying, “Neither I nor any of my family members have any connections with the said firms.”^[8] In December 2015 too, the ED and the Income Tax Department raided the Chennai offices of Vasan and Advantage. The ED said it was probing a transaction between Chidambaram and Aircel that had taken place immediately prior to the latter company's approval by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.^[6]

On February 29, 2016, the Pioneer newspaper reported that Chidamabaram was involved in extensive international business activities, many of them involving various tax havens.^[8] Newly discovered documents showed that Chidambaram had “built a massive empire for himself through investments in real estate and other financial dealings across the world.” The fresh evidence revealed details of business deals in London, Dubai, South Africa, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, British Virgin Island, France, the U.S., Switzerland, Greece, and Spain. It was reported that Chidambaram had enriched himself especially from 2006 to 2014, the period when his father was Finance Minister and Home Minister.^[1]

It was further revealed that Advantage Singapore, a subsidiary of Advantage, owned the following: 88 acres at Surridge Farm, Somerset; Cambridge-based Artevea Digital Ltd.; a majority stake in Lanka Fortune Residencies, which in turn owned several hotels; three farms and vineyards in South Africa; land in Thailand; part of BVI-based Full Innovations, Ltd.; a residential flat in Malaysia; franchises of Café Coffee Day in Malaysia; a Barcelona-based subsidiary, Advantage Estrategia Esportiva SLU; and a substantial percentage of the Pampelonn Organisation in France.^[9]

On March 1, the upper house of India's parliament, the Rajya Sabha, adjourned after the AIADMK party demanded it take action against Chidambaram for his business activities. On March 2, Chidambaram repeated his claim that he was neither a shareholder nor a director of Advantage and that he knew nothing about Sequoia. On April 19, ED raided Sequoia, which had paid Advantage Rs 8,500 per share for 30,000 shares of Vasan that Advantage had acquired at Rs 100 per share. On April 26, 2016, the New Indian Express reported that Advantage had in actuality paid only a third, that is Rs 33 per share, of the recorded Rs 100 per share cost for the shares. It had then sold 60,000 shares of Vasan to Sequoia, taking Rs. 7,500 per share for the first 30,000 shares and an unknown sum for the other 30,000 shares. The ER believed that Chidambaram was at the center of these transactions.^[9]

Also on April 26, the Express proved that the Chidambarams owned Advantage through what is known as “benami,” or front-men, arrangements.^[10] The evidence took the form of identical wills, drafted by Chidambaram, signed by four front men, and executed on June 19, 2013, in which the front men left their shares of Advantage to Chidambaram's daughter and named Chidambaram himself as executor. The wills left 60% of Advantage Strategic to Chidambara's family, and the rest to Ausbridge Holdings, which at the time owned two thirds of Advantage. 95% of the shares in Ausbridge had been owned by Chidambara until 2011, but in that year “the going got hot” and he transferred his shares to Mohanan Rajesh, from who he had bought Ausbridge. The remainder of the shares in Advantage had been handed over to the four “benamis,” or front men: C.B.N. Reddy, Padma Viswanathan, Ravi Viswanathan, and Bhaskararaman.^[11]

It was reported on May 23, 2016, that ED had sought information from the UK, UAE, South Africa, US, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and British Virgin Islands about properties and transactions of Advantage, Sequoia, WestBridge, and other firms purportedly linked to Chidambaram.^[12] On July 5, 2016, Chidambaram failed to appear at the ED in response to a summons in connection with the Aircel-Maxis probe. The ED was investigating alleged violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the part of Advantage and Chess Global Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, of which Chidambaram was a director.^[10]

Other activities and memberships

Chidambaram is Vice President of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association and is a former Vice President of the All India Tennis Association. He is Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Aircel Chennai Open (ATP) Tennis Tournament, President of the Tenpin Bowling Federation of India, Vice President of the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association, and Chief Patron of the All India Karate-Do Federation. He is a member of the inaugural class of the India Leadership Initiative (ILI) of the Aspen Institute, chairman of the Asia 21 India Chapter of The Asia Society, co-founder of the Chennai Chapter of Young Entrepreneurs Organisation, and co-founder of www.karuthu.com (an “Online Public Opinion Forum”).^[13]

Personal life

Chidambaram is married to Dr. Srinidi Rangarajan, a Bharathanatiyam dancer and physician who works in Chennai hospitals. They have a daughter, Aditi Nalini Chidambaram.^[14]

He is an avid tennis player who has won many tournaments.^[3]

In November 2010, Chidambaram' 39th birthday party in Chennai was described by the New Indian Express as being rife with “sycophancy".^[15]

References