JKCA scam case: Farooq Abdullah's assets worth Rs 11.86 crore seized
Enforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 11.86 crore of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in connection with Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam probe.
FollowEnforcement Directorate has attached assets worth Rs 11.86 crore of former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah in connection with Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association scam probe.
In a statement, the agency said: "In connection with laundering of funds of Jammu & Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) Enforcement Directorate has attached, under PMLA, properties of Dr Farooq Abdullah valued around Rs 11.86 crores."
The attached properties includes three residential houses, one at Gupkar Road, Srinagar; one at Tehsil Katipora, Tanmarg, and one at Bhatindi, Village Sunjwan, (Jammu); commercial buildings at posh Residency Road area of Srinagar.
The ED statement said, "Besides lands at four different places in J&K have also been attached. During investigation 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 ED statement said.
Funds worth over 45 crore siphoned off?
According to the Enforcement Directorate, between 2005 and December 2011, JKCA received funding totaling to Rs 109.78 crore from the BCCI. Between 2006 to January 2012, when Dr Farooq Abdullah was the president of JKCA, he misused his position and clout by illegal appointments of office bearer at JKCA to whom he gave financial powers for the purpose of laundering of JKCA funds.
Investigation clearly brings out that Dr. Farooq Abdullah was instrumental as well as beneficiary of the laundered funds of JKCA, the ED says.
The agency further says that despite existing regular bank account 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.
ED officials say that so far it has surfaced that JKCA funds to the tune of more than Rs 45 crore has been siphoned, which includes heavy cash withdrawals of around Rs 25 crore, with no corresponding justification.
Political vendetta? Settling political scores?
Reacting to the ED action, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference called it political vendetta, meant to settle political scores.
In a statement, party leaders called such acts as unwarranted and unjustified.
"There is no evidence worth the name on record to justify the order of attachment of the property. These ancestral assets had been acquired decades back, and there is no justification why these should be attached."
“It is nothing except political vendetta and an attempt to silence the leadership and dissuade it from voicing support to political aspirations of the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh."
"The list of properties includes two ancestral properties in which Dr Farooq has a minor share. It reveals the desperation of the BJP which is using its agencies to settle political scores. The sudden move against Dr Farooq has been taken to divert attention from the ground that BJP seems to be losing in J&K," statement said.
Farooq's son Omar Abdullah tweeted: "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."
