new delhi the custodial interrogation of former finance minister p chidamdbaram by the enforcement directorate is crucial as recording of statements under section 50 of the prevention of money laundering act pmla is an admissible evidence in court unlike a statement recorded by the cbi under section 161 of the crpc which on its own lacks evidentiary value and cannot be held against an accused during prosecutionthe director of ed has the same powers as of a civil court on thursday chidambarams lawyer kapil sibal said that the former finance minister was ready to be remanded to eds custody however sources in ed indicated that they are in no hurry to take the former finance minister in their custody and might prefer to wait before making him go through custodial interrogationread also chidambaram sent to tihar jail till sept 19also chidambarams newfound willingness to submit himself to custodial interrogation notwithstanding not many accused wish to be remanded to the custody of the antimoney laundering agency once in the custody of ed an accused is questioned all day at its office and then sent to lockup in a nearby police station to spend the night before being brought in for a fresh round of questioning the next morningin chidambarams case he while in eds custody could be sent to either the tughlaq road police station or the one at tilak marg while being a zcategory protectee chidambaram is unlikely to be put up in a regular lockup along with others police locksups including in the modern police stations of the capital are a far cry from the room chidambaram stayed in while in cbi custodythe room inside cbi headquarters was more like a guest house than a lockupat the police lockup an ed official is also posted during the night to keep additional watchread also tamil nadu cops on tihar security will not guard chidamdbarams cellthe eds probe into financial transactions is more intense based on evidences gathered from within the country and from foreign jurisdictions in chidambarams inx media money laundering case the agency attached assets worth over rs 54 crore within the country and abroad including bank deposits and properties in spain and uk allegedly belonging to his son congress mp kartithese attachments have been confirmed by the adjudicating authority of pmlasomething which is cited by ed sources to claim that their actions have been found to be prima facie correct by judicial and other authorities in other countriesin the inx media money laundering case the ed has accused the former fm of allegedly granting illegal foreign investment promotion board approvals to several companies to bring in foreign direct investments in exchange the minister ed has alleged received rs 300 crore as kickbacks in shell companies operated by kartiaccording to ed the deposits in these shell companies have been used for meeting personal expenditure of chidambarams and in opening and depositing in more than two dozen foreign bank accounts besides purchasing several properties in malaysia uk and spainthe