Farooq Abdullah named in ED chargesheet on alleged J&K cricket association scam
A special court in Srinagar has directed the accused persons, including the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister, to appear before it on August 27.
The Enforcement Directorate on Tuesday said that it has filed a supplementary chargesheet against former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in an alleged money laundering case.
The case pertains to alleged irregularities in grants of Rs 112 crore given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India to the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association. The central agency has alleged that more than Rs 50 crore were siphoned off between 2002 and 2011 from the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association when Abdullah was its president.
The Enforcement Directorate filed the chargesheet in the case before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act court in Srinagar.
It has also named two more persons – Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and Mir Manzoor Gazanffer – in the supplementary chargesheet. While Mirza was the former treasurer of the association, Gazanffer was an authorised signatory in bank accounts that had the association’s funds, according to Greater Kashmir.
The court on Tuesday took cognisance of the chargesheet and directed the accused persons to appear before it on August 27.
ED has filed a Supplementary P.C. under PMLA, 2002 before the Spl. PMLA Court, Srinagar against Dr. Farooq Abdullah & Others on 4/6/2022. Court has taken cognizance of the complaint and issued notices to the accused persons for appearance before the Court on 27.08.2022.
— ED (@dir_ed) July 26, 2022
According to the Enforcement Directorate, the case pertains to the misappropriation of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association’s funds “by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties”, including the association’s office-bearers. The agency also alleged that there were unexplained cash withdrawals from the association’s bank accounts.
“The quantum of proceeds of crime identified by ED in this case so far is Rs. 51.90 crore out of which assets worth Rs 21.55 crore have been attached by ED,” the investigative agency said in a press release.
In November, the Enforcement Directorate had filed a chargesheet against Mirza and the trial against him is underway.
The agency has accused Abdullah of misusing his position as the president of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association to make appointments so that the BCCI’s funds could be misappropriated, according to NDTV.
The National Conference on May 27 had said that there was nothing new about the Enforcement Directorate serving summons to members of the Opposition.
“This is common for all Opposition parties in India,” the National Conference had said in a tweet. “He [Abdullah] has continued to maintain his innocence in the matter and has cooperated with the investigative agencies and will do so in this case as well.”