Cracking its whip in the money laundering case of Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association, the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday attached eight properties worth Rs 11.86 crore of former Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah.
The attached properties include three residential houses, one at Gupkar Road, Srinagar, one at Tehsil Katipora, Tanmarg, and one at Bhatindi, Village Sunjwan, (Jammu) and commercial buildings at posh Residency Road, Srinagar.
Besides, lands at four different places in J&K have also been attached.
The timing of the action against Dr Farooq Abdullah is bound to trigger political reactions in Kashmir valley as the same had come ahead of the counting of votes in the District Development Council polls on December 22.
Enforcement Directorate had recently grilled Dr Abdullah in Srinagar on October 19 for over seven hours in connection with a money laundering case linked with a multi crore scam in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association.
Sharing the information Enforcement Directorate in a tweet said, “ED attaches 3 residential houses in Jammu & Kashmir, a commercial building in Srinagar, 4 lands in J&K totaling to ? 11.86 crore of Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of J&K under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in a case of laundering of funds of Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association”.
According to a separate press statement issued by the Enforcement Directorate, “Between years 2006 to January 2012, when Dr Farooq Abdullah was the President of JKCA, he misused his position and clout by illegal appointments of office bearers at JKCA to whom he gave financial powers for the purpose of laundering of JKCA Funds’.
“During investigations it is disclosed that out of the aforesaid attached properties the residence & land of Dr. Farooq Abdullah at Gupkar Road and commercial buildings at Residency Road, at prime upmarket locations, are basically State lands obtained on lease”. “It was also disclosed that the attached house at Bhatindi, Village Sunjwan, (Jammu) had been constructed by Dr Farooq Abdullah on State land and forest land, where he has also grabbed State land and forest land”, the statement said.
Between 2005 - 2006 to December 2011, JKCA received funding totaling to Rs. 109.78 from BCCI.
Investigation clearly brings out that Dr Farooq Abdullah was instrumental as well as beneficiary of the laundered funds of JKCA.
Sharing details of modus operandi, the ED statement said, “Despite existing regular bank accounts of JKCA, six new bank accounts were opened for parking of JKCA Funds and siphoning of the same. One dormant bank account in the name of Kashmir Wing of JKCA was also made operational for the same purpose”.
According to official sources, “It has surfaced that JKCA funds to the tune of more than Rs. 45 crore have been siphoned, which includes heavy cash withdrawals of around Rs. 25 crore, with no corresponding justification. Investigations disclose that for the purpose of generation of proceeds of crime, JKCA funds were layered by way of complex interbank transfers in all the bank accounts of JKCA and also by transfer to several personal bank accounts, followed by siphoning off the funds”.
Reacting to the crucial development, National Conference Vice President and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah posted a series of tweets claiming, “My father has seen the media reports regarding attachment of his properties in the ongoing investigation into the JKCA matter. Not surprisingly the media was tipped off regarding the seizure before he had received any official notice or documentation”.
Raising question marks over ED’s decision to seize ancestral property, Omar posted, “The properties attached are largely ancestral dating from the 1970s with the most recent one built before 2003. There can be no justification for the seizures because they fail the very basic test of having been acquired as the proceeds of the “crime” being investigated”.
Omar also announced, “Dr Abdullah is in touch with his lawyers & will fight all these baseless charges in the one place that matters - a court of law, where everyone is presumed to be innocent & is entitled to a fair trial unlike in the court of the media or the court of BJP managed social media”.
Dr Abdullah was earlier summoned to the office of Enforcement Directorate in Srinagar on October 19, a day after he had padded up to play another ‘political’ innings under the banner of ‘Peoples Alliance for Gupkar Declaration’ to fight for the restoration of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir.
Dr Abdullah had appeared before the Enforcement Directorate in the same matter to respond to their list of questions in July 2019.
The ED case is based on an FIR filed by the CBI, which booked former JKCA office-bearers, including general secretary Mohammed Saleem Khan and former treasurer Ahsan Ahmad Mirza in the multi crore scam.
As Opposition leader PDP Chief Mehbooba Mufti too had played a key role while seeking CBI probe in the matter. She led the protest demonstrations inside the state assembly and outside the house to put pressure on the union government to order a CBI probe.