New Delhi: Senior Congress leader and former Union minister P Chidambaram reiterated his innocence in the INX Media case on Thursday without directly referring to the money laundering allegations against him in keeping with the conditions of his bail.
Addressing his first press conference a day after walking out of Tihar Jail, where he had been lodged for 106 days, Chidambaram also expressed confidence that the court will “ultimately” deliver justice.
“My record as a minister and my conscience are absolutely clear. Officers who have worked with me, business persons who have interacted with me and journalists who have observed me know that very well,” the former finance and home minister said.
“We have total confidence that the courts will, ultimately, render justice,” he added.
Chidambaram said the Supreme Court’s Wednesday order granting him bail had cleared the “many layers of dust that have unfortunately settled on our understanding of criminal law and the manner in which criminal law has been administered by our courts”.
“I have never commented on cases that are sub-judice and I shall continue to adhere to that principle. To many of your possible questions on the case, the answers can be found in the lucid order of the Supreme Court pronounced yesterday,” the Congress leader added.
Chidambaram had been in the custody of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Tihar jail since his dramatic arrest by CBI sleuths from his Jor Bagh home in the national capital on the night of August 21. While the CBI is probing the corruption case linked to the INX Media, the ED is investigating the money laundering case.
The CBI registered its case on May 15, 2017, alleging irregularities in a Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance granted to the INX Media group for receiving overseas funds of Rs 305 crore in 2007 during Chidambaram's tenure as finance minister. The ED lodged a money laundering case after that.
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