PMLA court refuses to accept ED's charge-sheet naming Nalini Chidambaram in Saradha case

A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) cases court on Friday again refused to accept a supplementary charge sheet in the multi-crore Saradha chit fund case in West Bengal, naming Nalini Chidambaram, wife of Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.

This was the second time that the special court has refused to accept this supplementary charge sheet, the first time being on July 5, when the central agency had submitted it. This was the 3rd supplementary charge sheet filed by ED in the Saradha chit fund case.

Refusing to accept the supplementary charge sheet, the court had raised some technical questions on the inclusion of Nalini Chidambaram’s name besides questioning why the ED on why the third supplementary charge sheet was submitted after 11 years.

Then the central agency claimed that Nalini Chidambaram received Rs 1.5 crore from Saradha Group’s founder Chairman Sudipta Sen. It further claimed that although she received the money as a legal consultancy fee as a tax consultant, she could not furnish any supporting document for that.

On Friday, the special court raised the same questions on whether a tax consultant is considered involved in corruption charges if he or she accepts consultancy fees as a professional from her client. It has directed ED to submit a summary of the charges against Nalini Chidambaram in the matter. The next date of hearing in the matter is on July 25.