In a relief to former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah, the J&K High Court on Wednesday quashed the chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case of alleged money laundering in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).
“I find merit in the plea of the learned counsel for the petitioner and regret my inability to accept the argument of learned Additional Solicitor General of India which he very vehemently projected before me. The complaint, the chargesheet and the charges framed by the designated Special Court (Principal Sessions Court, Srinagar) vide order dated 18.03.2020 are quashed,” J&K High Court judge Sanjeev Kumar observed.
CBI probe
Mr. Abdullah, who was president of the JKCA, was named an accused along with association chairman Muhammad Aslam Goni, general secretary Saleem Khan and treasurer Ahsan Mirza in 2012 for “siphoning money by transferring it into an account not related to the JKCA”. The court, in 2012, ordered the CBI to investigate the case and it filed a chargesheet in 2018.
However, the ED filed a fresh case in 2019, and Mr. Abdullah was questioned multiple times since then. According to the ED investigations, funds to the tune of ₹113.67 crore were released by the BCCI from 2002-2003 up to December 2011 towards the JKCA. “There are allegations that there was variation in the two sets of balance sheets of around ₹10 crore for the financial years 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10,” it said. Mr. Abdullah was president of the JKCA from 2001 to 2011.
The J&K High Court underlined that the ED could register the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) afresh and launch prosecution against the petitioner under Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), if ultimately the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate, Srinagar, frames charges for offence/offences, which are specifically mentioned in the schedule of the PMLA.
“With a view to maintaining harmony and to avoid contradictory stand by the two investigating agencies, it is necessary that the Enforcement Directorate respects the decision of the CBI unless it is varied or modified by a competent court of criminal jurisdiction,” Justice Kumar held.
The court observed that the ED could not be allowed to assume jurisdiction of the competent court of criminal jurisdiction and arrive at conclusions different from those arrived at by the CBI, which had investigated the matter and presented the chargesheet before the CJM, Srinagar.
One of the accused, Mirza, was arrested by the ED in September 2019. However, the accused pleaded before the court that “no predicate offence was made out” and the ED “had no jurisdiction over the case”.
