Farooq Abdullah skips appearance before ED on health grounds

Srinagar: Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah didn’t appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday in connection with a money laundering case, as he sought exemption on health reasons.

The communication was sent to the ED office in Srinagar via email and in person, where he had been summoned for questioning in connection with alleged financial irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).

The case involves siphoning of funds belonging to the JKCA, which were transferred to the personal bank accounts of various people including the office bearers of the association, when Abdullah was heading the JKCA.

The agency started a money laundering investigation on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against office bearers of the association.

The flamboyant Abdullah, who represents Srinagar Parliament seat in the Lok Sabha, has been questioned several times by the CBI and ED in the case in the last four years.

On December 19, 2020, the ED had attached property worth Rs 11.86 crore belonging to the NC president in connection with an alleged money laundering case in the JKCA. The ED statement had then said that from 2005 to 2011, the JKCA received Rs 109.78 crore from the BCCI.

“Between 2006 to 2012, when Abdullah was the President of the JKCA, he misused his position and clout by illegal appointments of office bearers to whom he gave financial powers for the purpose of laundering the JKCA funds. Investigation clearly brings out that Abdullah was instrumental as well as beneficiary of the laundered funds of the JKCA,” the ED probe revealed.

It further said that JKCA funds to the tune of more than Rs 45 crore were siphoned, which included heavy cash withdrawals of around Rs 25 crore, “with no corresponding justification.”

The ED had filed a supplementary prosecution complaint under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), before the Special PMLA Court in Srinagar, against Abdullah, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer and others on June 4, 2022.

The supplementary complaint was filed after the ED attached movable as well as immovable assets to the extent of Rs 21.55 crore belonging to Abdullah and others.