Congress leader KJ George summoned by ED

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has subpoenaed former Congress minister K J George in connection with a disproportionate assets case filed against him. He has been asked to appear before the agency on January 16.

"I received a summons from Enforcement Directorate dated 23-12-2019. My duty as a citizen is to cooperate fully with the authorities for any questions or explanations. I am a law-abiding citizen, all our assets/wealth is lawfully declared," George said in a tweet.

"I have immense faith in the law and investigating agency. My family and myself will extend our full cooperation with the agencies during the course of the investigation," he said.

According to the summons, George will be questioned under the provisions of Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. It can be recalled that social activist Ravikrishna Reddy and others representing the 'Karnataka Rashtra Samithi' political party had filed a complaint against George in September 2018, alleging that he had laundered money and accumulated disproportionate assets overseas.

George is the third Karnataka Congress leader to be summoned by ED in the past 12 months. While former minister DK Shivakumar was under ED custody for almost two months, another former minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan was summoned in connection with the multi-crore 'I Monetary Advisory' ponzi scam.