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ED files supplementary charge sheet against Farooq Abdullah
The Enforcement Directorate pressed additional charges against National Conference president Farooq Abdullah for alleged misappropriation of funds at the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association during his tenure as its president between 2004 and 2009
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday pressed additional charges against former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference president Farooq Abdullah for alleged misappropriation of funds at the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association during his tenure as its president between 2004 and 2009.
In its supplementary charge sheet, ED said that funds were transferred and withdrawn from different bank accounts and Farooq Abdullah did not bring the matter before working committee despite having full knowledge. The charge sheet said Abdullah, along with other officer bearers, indulged in misappropriation of JKCA funds from 2005 to 2012.
The agency filed its first charge sheet in 2021 against one of the accused, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, former treasurer of JKCA and other former office bearers in the case.
The ED case is based on a first information report registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2015, which alleged criminal conspiracy saying Abdullah had connived with other accused in misappropriation of funds.
On Saturday, the principal district and sessions judge of Srinagar summoned Abdullah to appear in court on August 27.
ED, which investigates financial crimes, interrogated Abdullah in May regarding the alleged misappropriation in May and has attached property worth ₹11.86 belonging to him.
The National Conference said Abdullah will cooperate with agencies. “Dr Farooq Abdullah shall always stick to the truth, no matter how stories are fabricated, truth manipulated and dissent suppressed however he will cooperate with the agencies and vindicate himself,” the party tweeted soon after ED said Abdullah has been summoned by the court.
Abdullah was earlier questioned in the case in 2019 and 2020. The case pertains to the siphoning off of money from the cricket association. Former office bearers, including general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza have also been booked in the case.
ED opened its money laundering case on the basis of a charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation in 2015 against six office bearers of the association, including Abdullah. It put the amount involved at ₹43.69 crore.
ED has so far put the amount involved at ₹51.90 crore.
In its first charge sheet, ED claimed that Abdullah “misused” his position as president of the association and made appointments in the sports body so that funds provided by the Board of Control for Cricket in India could be laundered. The central agency attached residential and commercial properties of Abdullah in December 2020, prompting the National Conference leader to approach the high court.
The scam first came to light in March 2012 when JKCA treasurer Manzoor Wazir filed a police complaint against former general secretary Mohammad Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Mirza at a local police station in Srinagar. Soon, a list of around 50 names linked to the financial scandal was out.
ED also attached assets worth ₹2.6 crore in a money laundering case related to the alleged embezzlement of JKCA funds, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against former JKCA treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and its finance committee member Mir Mansoor Gazanffer.
Abdullah has said that the attached properties were not related to the alleged crime and were either ancestral or acquired before the offence.
ED’s Tuesday move came at a time when opposition parties have alleged that the central investigation agency is being used by the Union government to target its political opponents. Congress President Sonia Gandhi was on Tuesday questioned by the agency for the second time over the acquisition of Associated Journals by Young Indian, a firm in which she is a significant shareholder.
Abdullah had earlier said this kind of action will take place till elections are held in Jammu and Kashmir. “This will go on till elections are held in Jammu and Kashmir, Abdullah told reporters outside the directorate’s office at Rajbagh in May. “We will be harassed like this.”
