The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court quashed the chargesheet against ex-CM Farooq Abdullah in the JKCA money laundering case but allowed the ED to reinvestigate.
The Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court on Wednesday quashed the chargesheet framed against former chief minister (CM) Farooq Abdullah and others by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in money laundering linked to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam.
Abdullah, the National Conference president, was called to the ED office in Srinagar several times for questioning. However, in this case he was not the petitioner. The judgement was granted in the case of Abdullah’s co-accused, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza.
“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. It is, however, made clear that notwithstanding quashing of the charges, it shall remain open to the enforcement director to register ECIR afresh and launch prosecution against the petitioner under Section 3 of the PMLA if ultimately the court of chief judicial magistrate, Srinagar frames charges for offence(s), which are specifically mentioned in the schedule of PMLA,” justice Sanjeev Kumar said in an order
Abdullah was one of the longest serving president of JKCA from 2002 to 2015, when he was replaced during PDP BJP coalition government. Earlier in January, Abdullah was asked to appear before ED for questioning, which he ignored citing health reasons.
ED officials had alleged that during Abdullah’s tenure, he and other office bearers were involved in siphoning off of JKCA funds of over ₹113 crore by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties, including those of JKCA office-bearers and by way of unexplained cash withdrawals from its bank accounts.
The ED had questioned the NC leader in 2019 and 2020, with him terming the developments “political vendetta” orchestrated by the Centre. He had in 2020 said such actions will continue till elections are held in the UT.
Farooq Abdullah was chargesheeted in the case, which has its genesis in a 2018 chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), two years ago. The ED has blamed Abdullah for “misusing” his position as JKCA president and made appointments in the sports body so that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)-sponsored funds could be laundered.
In its supplementary charge sheet in 2022, ED said Abdullah, along with other officer bearers, indulged in misappropriation of funds from 2005 to 2012. It said funds were transferred and withdrawn from different accounts and Abdullah did not raise the matter before a working committee despite being aware of it.
In 2021, ED filed its first charge sheet against former JKCA treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and other former office bearers in the case. The case was highlighted by junior JKCA employees, who highlighted the bungling of funds worth crores in the sports body.
So far, the ED had attached residential and commercial properties of Abdullah worth nearly ₹12 crore in December 2020, prompting the NC leader to move the Jammu and Kashmir high court. He alleged that the properties attached were not related to the alleged crime and were either ancestral or acquired before the offence.
ED filed a supplementary prosecution complaint under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), before the Special PMLA Court, Srinagar, against Abdullah, Mirza, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer and others on June 4, 2022.
ED said it initiated a money laundering investigation on the basis of a chargesheet filed by CBI on July 11, 2018. It arrested Mirza on September 4, 2019, and a prosecution complaint was filed on November 1 against him, and a trial is underway.
