Thomas Isaac refuses to appear before ED, moves HC against summons

Kochi: Senior CPM leader Thomas Isaac has refused to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday. The former Finance Minister of Kerala asked the agency to clarify the nature of his crime in an e-mail reply to the summons.

The summons were issued as part of its probe into alleged violations in the financial dealings of KIIFB when he was the state Finance Minister in the previous LDF government.

“I do not own the KIIFB documents. My entire wealth is an open book. The agency has not yet clarified the crime I have allegedly committed,” he said.

The CPM leader is refusing to appear before the ED the second time. The leader had refused to answer the agency’s summons on July 19 citing that he had a class at the EMS learning centre. The second notice seeking his appearance was sent by ED in the first week of August.

Meanwhile, Isaac on Wednesday moved the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the two summons issued to him by the ED.

Isaac, in the plea, contends that the ED was attempting to conduct a fishing and roving enquiry into the activities of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and such enquiries have been time and again deprecated by the apex court.

He also claimed that the summons issued to him to appear before the ED do not reveal the nature of the violation, if any, by him of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) or as to what is the investigation in relation to which his response is sought for.

Therefore, the “summons are ex-facie illegal and beyond the jurisdiction of the scope of inquiry contemplated under the FEMA since admittedly there is no violation of any provision of the said Act”, Isaac claimed in his plea.

The plea also contains his reply dated August 9 to the latest ED summons for his presence before it on August 11.

While the reply contends that the summons issued to him should be withdrawn or recalled by the ED and it should refrain from initiating further proceedings against him in the matter. 

Then, Isaac had termed the ED notice to him as a ‘political move’ by the BJP government at the Centre, alleging it was misusing all investigation agencies for its political gains.

Isaac had said before the last Assembly election, that the ED, the CAG and even the Income Tax Department was after KIIFB.

Meanwhile, a group of CPM MLAs including KK Shailaja and actor Mukesh has also approached the High Court agaisnt the ED action. The legislators have argued that the ED action was detrimental to the development of the state.

A High Court bench comprising the Chief Justice will examine the plea today.

(With PTI inputs.)