INX Media case is one of the high profile Money Laundering cases in India. The case is related to the scam made by the INX Media in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and getting its clearance by Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) by using the power and fame of one the India’s prominent political leader.
INX Media– In 2007, Peter Mukerjea along with his spouse Indrani Mukerjea founded two companies named INX Media Pvt. Ltd. and INX News Pvt. Ltd. Indrani Mukerjea appointed herself as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of her own company and designated Peter Mukerjea with a position of a Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and also he was named as the chairman of INX Media. In August 2010, the owners renamed INX Media to 9X Media. In October 2019, Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) bought 9X Media at the price of ₹160crore.
Indrani Mukerjea- Indrani was media executive and HR consultant of 9X Media also she was the former CEO of the company. In August 2015, Indrani was accused for murdering her daughter Sheena Bora. Indrani was alleged that she along with her ex-spouse Sanjeev Khanna was involved in the murder and burning of the corpse of her daughter.
Peter Mukerjea- Peter is retired media executive of company also he was the CEO of STAR India and CSO at 9X Media. CBI accused and arrested Peter in Sheena Bora murder case. For the consecutive three years from 2004 – 2006 he was in top 50 most powerful people of India.
Palaniappan Chidambaram- P. Chidambaram is a prominent Indian politician of Indian National Congress (from 2004 – present). He was a former Union Minister of Finance and Union Minister of Home Affairs also he is a attorney by profession.
Karti Chidambaram- Karti is also an Indian politician at Indian National Congress. In 2019, in Indian general elections Karti was elected as Lok Sabha member at Sivaganaga in Tamil Nadu. He is also a lawyer and a businessman by profession.
In 22/02/2007, the owners approached for the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) for the sustained growth of company. On 13/03/2007 INX through approved route approached for FDI. On 18/05/2007 FIPB approved their request of FDI and the limit of FDI was permitted of Rs4.62 crore (US$650,000) and also FIPB denied their request of downstream Investment.
The allegations on INX was that they violated the norms set by FIPB for the approval. INX brought about Rs305crore (US$43million) and also made downstream investment up to 26% even after the limitation and disapproval of FIPB. CBI and income tax department were given the charge of the case for the investigation and after investigation few aspects they announced that “INX very cleverly tried to sidestep from the scam by approaching Karti Chidambaram by leveraging his fame”. INX hired Chess Global Advisory Services Pvt. Ltd. as their consultant firm which was indirectly owned by Karti Chidambaram. Just after the formation of newly relation between Karti Chidambaram and INX on 09/07/2008 the FIPB wrote to INX to submit a fresh application regarding downstream investment and on 30/10/2008 it got approved by the then finance minister Mr. P. Chidambaram. In 2009, the Indrani and Peter Mukerjea walked out from there posts and decided to continue only as a shareholders.
In 2010, the Enforcement Directorate sued INX on the ground of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) relating to the investments by the three Mauritius-based companies invested in INX. In 2013 the investigation of the case was halted without any information and explanation. In May 2014, again the investigation of the case got started. This time the investigation committee was of Central Board of Direct Taxes and researched on past taxes of INX and they got to know that between 2007 – 2008, the Mukerjeas launded approx. Rs275.5 crore via Mauritius (East African County) into INXs eight subsidiary companies. In 2017, CBI filed a case on the approval given by FIPB to INX and also filed a case on Indrani and Peter Mukerjea and also on Karti Chidambaram for Money Laundering. In Feb 2018, Karti was arrested at Chennai Airport, but got bail after 23 days. In March 2018, Indrani confessed to CBI about the deal of US$ 1million still stuck between Mukerjeas and Karti for the help done by the Karti for the approval from FIPB. In August, 2019 High Court rejected the anticipatory bail of P. Chidambaram and named him as the ‘Kingpin’ of the INX Media case and declined his request for and ordered Judicial custody of P. Chidambaram and also rejected his request of three days stay so that he might not get sufficient time to appeal in the higher courts. Just after the rejection of his requests he moved to apex court and failed to get an immediate siting on his case and he was found missing from his house on the next day. After this high pitch drama, very next day P. Chidambaram invited media for an interview while the CBI reached his house to arrest him and he denied to open the doors of his house, thereafter CBI climbed the walls of his house to get inside the house and then took him away for Judicial custody. On September 5, 2019 P. Chidambaram was moved to Tihar Jail for the judicial custody of two weeks and apex court rejected his bail plea and he was again sent to jail on October 3, 2019 till October 17, 2019.
On October 22, 2019 CBI gave released him on order of the court and as CBI released him he was taken in custody by Enforcement Directorate. Again he got bailed on December 4, 2019. The latest update of the case is that the apex court barred him from being in contact with press and media and discussing them regarding the case. However till now CBI has submitted its report and the decision is still pending in the court but the reports of investigating agencies, evidences and the facts of the case clearly state the condition of this case.
Adarsh Mani Tripathi