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JKCA case: Farooq skips ED summons, second time in a month
Farooq Abdullah had informed the ED that he was not in Srinagar and would appear after his return, says NC leader Guroo
National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah skipped Enforcement Directorate (ED) summons for the second time in past month in connection with a money laundering probe related to Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) funds. Farooq was to appear before ED officials in Srinagar on Tuesday, but did not do so.
Last month, the NC president did not appear before the ED for questioning, citing health reasons.
Those aware of the developments within the NC said that the party’s patriarch had informed the agency that he was not in Srinagar and would appear for questioning only after his return.
NC leader and Farooq’s secretary Mushtaq Guroo said that the NC chief did not appear before ED officials in Srinagar. “Farooq was out of Srinagar,” he said.
The agency had questioned the NC patriarch in 2019 and 2020 in connection with the case.
The ED investigation pertains to alleged financial irregularities at the JKCA when Farooq was the heading the sporting body. Farooq was chargesheeted by the ED in the case in 2022.
The case relates to siphoning off 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 said.
The agency’s case is based on a 2018 chargesheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the accused.
In December 2020, the ED had attached residential and commercial properties of Farooq, worth nearly ₹12 crore, prompting the NC leader to move the Jammu and Kashmir high court. The former chief minister alleged that the properties attached were not related to the alleged crime and were either ancestral or acquired before the offence.
Former Srinagar mayor Junaid Azim Mattu criticised Farooq for skipping the summons.
“He used to attend all ED summons obediently on the JKCA scam. Why has he started skipping them? Has it become a fashion statement to loot public funds and then be brazen about it?,” Mattu wrote on micro-blogging platform “X”.
