After DK Shivakumar, Karnataka Congress leader KJ George faces ED heat

Former minister and senior Congress leader KJ George has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate to appear before it on January 16

Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Karnataka Congress leader KJ George. The authorities have also served a summons to George's family members.

The Congress leader is accused of parking funds in offshore accounts, and he is to appear before the ED on January 16. In November, Karnataka Rashtra Samithi president Ravi Krishna Reddy had lodged a complaint with ED against KJ George and his family members.

It is reported that KJ George made illegal earnings and owned property in India and abroad when he was a minister in Siddaramaiah-led government.

KJ George had reportedly submitted his property information (from 1985 to 2019) to the Lokayukta. The ED, based on this information from Lokayukta, has started to investigate.

George is the second leader to be summoned by ED after DK Shivakumar, who was grilled and later arrested for over hundred days in Delhi.

DK Shivakumar was arrested by the agency on September 3 and was sent to judicial custody in Tihar jail on September 17. Before that, he was in ED's custody for 14 days.

A money laundering case was registered against him by the ED in September last year, based on a complaint filed by the Income Tax department, alleging tax evasion and hawala transactions running into crores.