Senior CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac on Wednesday, August 10 moved the Kerala High Court seeking quashing of the two summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in connection with its probe into alleged violations in the financial dealings of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) when he was the state Finance Minister in the previous LDF (Left Democratic Front) government.
Thomas, in his plea, contends that the ED was attempting to conduct a fishing and roving enquiry into the activities of 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", Thomas said 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. The reply contends that the summons issued to him should be withdrawn or recalled by the ED and it should refrain from initiating further proceedings against him in the matter.
The ED had served a notice to the senior CPI(M) leader last month, seeking his appearance before it on July 19. He, however, did not appear before the probe agency, saying he had to attend classes at a party-run institute in the state capital. Then, Thomas termed the ED notice to him as a 'political move' by the Union government, alleging it was misusing all investigation agencies for its political gains. The second notice seeking his appearance was sent by ED in the first week of August. Thomas had said before the last Assembly election that the ED, the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) and even the Income Tax Department was after KIIFB.