Nalini Chidambaram skips ED date

New Delhi, Sep 2 (PTI) Nalini Chidambaram, wife of formerUnion Finance Minister and senior Congress leader PChidamabram, today skipped her scheduled date beforeEnforcement Directorate sleuths in Kolkata in connection witha money laundering probe in the Saradha chit fund scam case. Officials said Nalini did not appear today and isunderstood to have suggested to the ED sleuths that she shouldrather be questioned at her residence, as allowed for womenunder CrPC provisions. It was not immediately known as to what the ED would donow and whether it would issue fresh summons or take a legalopinion before initiating fresh action. The ED had asked her to appear before the InvestigatingOfficer of the case in Kolkata sometime back where herstatement was expected to be recorded under the provisions ofthe Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). She was also asked to carry documents related to herpersonal finances and those related to her engagement with theSaradha group. The matter pertains to the legal fee paid to Nalini, aSupreme Court lawyer, by the Saradha group, official sourcessaid. The amount in question is Rs 1.26 crore, they said,noting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) wants to understandthe exact flow of funds to her from Saradha company accountsand the contract made therein. She had earlier been examined by CBI in this regard whileED had probed her role by going through documents provided toit by other accused. The sources said she has now been summoned in the "lightof the new evidence". Saradha chairman Sudipta Sen, at present in jail, hadmentioned about hiring Nalini as a lawyer at the request ofManoranjana Sinh, estranged wife of Congress leader MatangSinh. Nalini represented Manoranjana and hence was asked tooffer her professional advice in her negotiations with Sen inconnection with plans by the group to acquire a TV channel inthe northeast. The lawyer is believed to have advised her client againstthe Rs 42-crore investment by the group to acquire the TVchannel. ED had filed a charge sheet in this case in a specialPMLA court in Kolkata earlier this year and it is workingtowards a supplementary charge sheet. The agency, till now, has issued four orders forattaching properties worth about Rs 600 crore in this case.Itregistered a case under PMLA in 2013 taking cognisance ofpolice FIRs of West Bengal, Assam and Odisha. ED has pegged the amount of the scam at Rs 2,500 croreand has conducted an investigation involving lakhs ofmulti-layered transactions. It has claimed that "more than 90 per cent of suchcompanies existed only on paper and only 17 companies out ofthe 224 companies actually had carried out some business". PTINESRG