The Income Tax Department on Friday filed four prosecution cases in a Chennai court against family members of former Finance Minister P Chidambaram. The cases were filed against Karti Chidambaram, his mother Nalini and wife Srinidhi under Section 50 of the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Tax Act, in a Chennai court. Karti is the son of P Chidambaram.

The prosecution cases have been filed after it has been found by the Income Tax Department that Karti, his mother and wife had purchased a property in london (5, Holben Close, Barton, Cambridge, UK). The department found that the property was purchased for Rs 5.37 crore, but this was not disclosed in the IT returns filed by them.

Karti had made investments of Rs 3.28 crore and Rs 80 lakh in Nano Holdings llC (USA) and Totus Tennis ltd (UK) through a company by name of Chess Global Advisory. These investments too were not disclosed in the IT returns. The complaints were filed by the IT Department at the Chennai Metropolitan Magistrate Court. All the three members have been summoned by the department for questioning on June 11.

Justice TS Sivagnanam of the Madras High Court had last month dismissed a petition moved by Nalini Chidambaram, Karti Chidambaram and Srinidhi questioning the prosecution initiated against them by the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Chennai under the Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Income and Assets) and Imposition of Taxes Act 2015.

The Income Tax Department had issued notices seeking detail of documents in respect of the property at Cambridge in the UK and with regard to certain investments in Nano Holdings llC, USA on various dates.

The department had held a raid in the house and office premises of Karti in December 2015. The Pioneer had carried a detailed report in February 2016 about the properties amassed by the Chidambarams in 14 countries across the world.

This included 21 foreign bank accounts held by Kari and his companies in Metro Bank in the UK, four accounts in OCBC Singapore, two banks in Spain (Sabadell Atlantico and la Caxia), HSBC UK and Barclays Bank in Monaco, Marseille BNP Paribas and UBS in Switzerland. It was also found that an 88 acre farmhouse in the UK’s Somerset (Surridge Farm) was purchased through the accounts of Advantage Strategic Consultants Pvt ltd, the Singapore-based company owned by Karti.

The raids by the IT Department also brought to light the details of the business empire built by Karti across various countries during 2006 to 2014 when Chidambaram was the Union Home and Finance Minister.

These properties are spread across london, Dubai, South Africa, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri lanka, British Virgin Island, France, USA, Switzerland, Greece and Spain. It was estimated by the investigating agencies that these properties amassed by Karti are valued more than three billion dollars. The Chidambarams instead of cooperating with the investigation agencies had tried to prevent the probe from progressing by filing cases pleading with the court to quash the investigations.