Srinagar, Jul 26: A special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court has issued notices to incumbent parliamentarian, Dr Farooq Abullah and others, asking them to appear before the PMLA Special Court on August 27, 2022 with regard to siphoning-off of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) funds, Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has said.

“Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has filed a supplementary prosecution complaint under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), before the Special PMLA Court, Srinagar, against Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer & others on 04.06.2022. Special PMLA Court has taken cognizance of the complaint and issued notices to the accused persons for appearance before the PMLA Special Court on 27.08.2022,” a statement issued to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) said.

The statement said that the supplementary prosecution complaint was preceded by three provisional attachment orders dated 28-02-2020, 18-12-2020 & 25-02-2022 attaching therewith movable as well as immovable assets to the extent of Rs 21.55 crore in aggregate belonging to Dr Farooq Abdullah, M/s Mirza Sons, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer and Ahsan Ahmad Mirza.

The case relates to the siphoning-off of Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) funds by way of transfer to various personal bank accounts of unrelated parties including those of office bearers of JKCA and by way of unexplained cash withdrawals from JKCA bank accounts, the statement said.

ED initiated money laundering investigation on the basis of chargesheet filed by CBI on 11.07.2018 against office bearers of JKCA in case against six office bearers of JKCA for the offences under section 120-B, 406 & 409 of Ranveer Penal Code (RPC) pari-materia to sections 120-B, 406 & 409 of IPC for wrongful loss to JKCA and corresponding wrongful gain to the accused persons to the tune of Rs 43.69 Crore, the statement added.

“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. Earlier, ED had arrested Ahsan Ahmad Mirza, the then Treasurer of JKCA, on 04.09.2019 and a Prosecution Complaint was filed on 01.11.2019 against him, in which trial is in progress. Further investigation in the matter is in progress,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, National Conference (NC) in a tweet has said that the party president shall always always stick to the truth.

The party president will cooperate with the agencies and vindicate himself.

“Dr Farooq Abdullah shall always stick to the truth, no matter how stories are being fabricated, truth manipulated and dissent suppressed however he will cooperate with the agencies and vindicate himself ,” JKNC tweeted.