ED opposes businessman CC Thampi's plea seeking permission to travel abroad

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday opposed a plea, filed by NRI businessman CC Thampi in a Delhi court, seeking permission to travel abroad for two weeks.

Special CBI Judge Arvind Kumar partly heard the arguments in the matter today and slated the further hearing for tomorrow.

Thampi, who is a close aide of businessman Robert Vadra, was last week granted bail in connection with a money laundering case pertaining to the overseas properties related to Robert Vadra.

The NRI businessman has sought the court's permission to travel to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for two weeks.

According to ED, Thampi, along with Sanjay Bhandari and Vadra had conspired to launder money.

Thampi, an NRI, and his three companies -- Holiday City Centre, Holiday Properties, and Holiday Bekal Resorts -- were on ED radar "under FEMA for an aggregate amount of Rs 288 crore".

The ED has booked Thampi, who has businesses extending across India and the UAE, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in connection with alleged wrongful approval for an engineering college in Thrissur by the All India Council for Technical Education in 2009.