Supreme Court Bars P. Chidambaram’s Arrest by ED till Wednesday

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the protection from arrest for former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the INX Media case till Wednesday.

A bench comprising Justices R. Banumathi and A.R. Bopanna said it would hear the arguments of the Enforcement Directorate's counsel on Chidambaram's two petitions including the challenge to the remand orders issued by the trial court.

The apex court took on record that it will not be influenced by any views expressed by the Delhi High Court in denying anticipatory bail to Chidambaram and instead the case will be heard on merits.

Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Chidambaram, told the court that its applications for transcripts of the questions and answers by his client should be brought on record.

"It is their case that they have all the evidence, and our case is that they did not put this information before him," argued Sibal. The court directed the registry to receive the application and post the application with the main matter.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, also appearing for Chidambaram, cited the triple test of anticipatory bail for his client. First, he is not a flight risk unless in the case of a terrorist. Second, he has been cooperating, and third, he cannot tamper with the evidence in an 11-year-old case, and the documents have been frozen.

"The allegations in the INX Media case against father and son are similar. Son has already got regular bail," submitted Singhvi before the court.

Singhvi also pointed out the Delhi High Court order where "grave" was used thrice by the judge, which indicates the word was only being used as a subjective adjective.

"Grave is like death penalty, or seven years or more punishment," contended Singhvi. He also referred to the frequent use of the expression "gravity of the offence" in the ED case, and pointed out that this word is subjective.

Earlier during the day, Chidambaram's lawyers argued on the retrospective effect of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Singhvi had told the court that the offence allegedly dated back to 2007 but the PMLA provisions came into effect in 2009. Despite this, the ED had invoked these provisions against Chidambaram.

Singhvi contended that the main provisions of the law against Chidambaram became scheduled offences under PMLA only in 2009, which was a year after when the alleged FIPB approval was given in 2007-08. (IANS)

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