- Name: Karti Chidambaram
- Born : 16th November 1971
- Designation : Member of Parliament from Sivagangai
- Alma Mater: University of Texas at Austin [BBA] , Cambridge . , University [LLB]
- Occupation : Businessperson , Politician and Advocate
- Political party: Indian National Congress
- Previous offices: Vice-President of the All India Tennis Association.
Karti Chidambaram’s was born to Nalini Chidambaram and P Chidambaram in Chennai, Tamilnadu on 16th November 1971. He earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from McCombs School of Business at University of Texas at Austin in 1993.
He later earned Bachelor of Laws from Wolfson College at University of Cambridge in 1995. After his graduation, he returned to Tamil Nadu where a political upheaval had taken place.
P Chidambaram had broken away from the Congress and formed his own political party called Congress Jananayaka Peravai .Karti Chidambaram became a member of Congress Jananayaga Peravai and served as P Chidambaram’s election manager in Sivagangai.
In 2014, Karti Chidambaram unsuccessfully contested the Indian general elections on a Congress ticket from the Sivagangai Lok Sabha constituency. He again contested and won in 2019 election representing Indian National Congress.
Karti Chidambaram has been associated with tennis for over three decades. He is the Secretary-General of the Indian Tennis Players Association (ITPA). He has held the position of Chairman of the Organizing Committee for Chennai Open and was a former Vice-President of the All India Tennis Association.
He is currently the Vice-President for the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association. He is also the President of the Tenpin Bowling Federation of India and Chief Patron of the All India Karate-Do Federation.
He is a member of the inaugural class of the India Leadership Initiative (ILI) of the Aspen Institute, Chairman of the Asia 21 India Chapter of The Asia Society, Co-founder of the Chennai Chapter of Young Entrepreneurs Organization, and Co-founder of www.karuthu.com (an “Online Public Opinion Forum”). Karti Chidambaram is the Founder and Convener of G67, a platform of like-minded, educated, youth of Tamil Nadu (born after the year 1967) to voice their opinion and champion relevant social causes.
Legal Background:
It was reported on 23 May 2016, that the Enforcement Directorate had sought information from the UK, UAE, South Africa, US, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, France, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Sri Lanka and British Virgin Islands about properties and transactions of Advantage, Sequoia, West Bridge, and other firms purportedly linked to Karti Chidambaram. On 5 July 2016, Karti Chidambaram failed to appear at the ED in response to a summons in connection with the Aircel-Maxis probe.
The ED was investigating alleged violations of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act on the part of Advantage and Chess Global Advisory Services Pvt Ltd, of which Karti Chidambaram was a director. In June 2017, a ‘Look Out Circular’ (LOC) was issued by the Bureau of Immigration.
The Madras High Court stayed the LOC against Karti Chidambaram stating that the issuance of the circular the day after issuing a summons to him was unwarranted. This was in response to a joint petition by Karti Chidambaram, C.B.N. Reddy, Ravi Visvanathan, Mohanan Rajesh and S.Bhaskararaman, who were all issued the circular.
The petition stated that the Centre had been pursuing a politically motivated vendetta against the petitioner’s family and the issuance of the LOC is the latest in a series of concerted actions by the Central government’s agencies to damage the reputation of Karti Chidambaram and discredit his father, P Chidambaram
In August 2017, Karti Chidambaram appeared before the CBI in connection to a case involving FIPB approval of INX Media
In February 2018, Karti Chidambaram was arrested by the CBI in a money laundering case, where he was accused of receiving Rs. 1 million from a media company for using his influence to manipulate a tax probe against it.
In October 2018, the Enforcement directorate said it has attached assets worth Rs. 54 crores of Karti Chidambaram in India, Spain and the UK in connection with a money laundering case related to INX Media, an action termed “bizarre and outlandish” by him.
