KOCHI/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Taking the battle to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) camp, former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac on Wednesday moved the Kerala High Court challenging the proceedings initiated against him by the agency in connection with the KIIFB transactions.
The senior CPM leader also asked the ED to withdraw the summons sent to him. Isaac, who was asked to appear before it on Thursday, told the agency in an email that he will not be joining the interrogation. It is learnt that Isaac’s decision to move the HC and skip the interrogation was based on the CPM state secretariat’s assertion that the case be dealt with politically and legally.
In his petition, Isaac told the HC that the ED has issued two summons to him under sections of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), the Income Tax Act and the Code of Civil Procedure asking for details of his role in the KIIFB with respect to issuing masala bonds. But the agency has not revealed the nature of the violation, if any, that he has to respond by way of oral submissions, he said.
Neither of the summons reveals what the investigation is about, in relation to which his response is sought, Isaac submitted. The summons, therefore, does not conform to the law laid down by the Supreme Court in this regard. Hence, the summons is illegal and beyond the jurisdiction of the scope of inquiry contemplated under the FEMA. All actions of KIIFB were performed legally, he said.
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Kochi/T’Puram: The ED is conducting a roving and fishing inquiry to enable them to gather material first and then see if any wrongdoing has been done, he submitted. Isaac also sought to quash the summons and declare that they have been issued without authority.
Meanwhile, LDF MLAs K K Shailaja, E Chandrasekharan, Ramachandran Kadannappally, M Mukesh and I B Satheesh filed a public interest litigation against the ED. A Division Bench, headed by the Chief Justice, will consider the case on Thursday.