Government harassing my son, says Chidambaram on ED raids at Karti's Chennai office

Karti issued a statement saying that there was no basis for the agency to visit his office.

Chennai

: Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday searched the office of Karti Chidambaram, son of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, in connection with its probe against firms owned by his friends.

The ED action invited strong criticism from former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram who said -"nothing was found-" in the -"fishing and roving-" enquiry and he would like to see how far a -"foolish-" government would go in -"harassing-" him.

Karti Chidambaram issued a statement that some officers of the investigating agencies visited his office on Wednesday. -"I was informed that they are investigating three firms. Two of the firms belong to my friends. They are owned by professionals and managed by competent Board of Directors. I am not aware of the third firm,-" he said in the statement.

ED officials said they searched a room they had locked in the office premises of Karti as part of their operation that was executed on December 1. -"Some documents have been seized,-" they said.

Officials said the room could not be opened on December 1 and was sealed. It was opened on Wednesday and Karti was informed accordingly, they said.

Karti, in his statement, reiterated he had no -"economic interests-" in the firms being investigated by the probe agencies as he expressed surprise over the action conducted today.

-"I made it clear to the officers what I had publicly stated earlier. Neither I nor any member of my family is a shareholder or Director of any of the said firms. We do not have any economic interests in the said firms,-" he said.