Money laundering case: 5 Indian politicians who were summoned by ED

Here are five instances when ED summoned politicians in various money laundering cases

The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday sent summons to Congress interim chief Sonia Gandhi and former party president Rahul Gandhi for questioning in a money laundering case linked to the National Herald newspaper.

The case was registered recently to probe alleged financial irregularities in the party-promoted Young Indian, which owns the National Herald newspaper.

Let's have a look at five other politicians who were summoned by ED in money laundering case:

Nawab Malik

Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik was arrested on February 23 by the ED in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). He is currently in jail.

The ED's case is based on an FIR filed by the National Investigation Agency against Ibrahim, a designated global terrorist and a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts, and his aides under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

The NCP leader had denied all charges levelled against him and moved the Supreme Court against an order of the Bombay High Court, which had rejected his interim application seeking immediate release from jail.

D K Shivakumar

Congress leader D K Shivakumar was summoned by a Delhi court in a money laundering case lodged against him in 2018 after taking cognisance of the charge sheet. Special Judge Vikas Dhull directed Shivakumar to appear on July 1.

The court gave the order after taking cognisance of a charge sheet filed by ED through its Special Public Prosecutor Nitesh Rana against Shivakumar and others in the case.

Shivakumar, who is the president of the Congress' Karnataka unit, was arrested by the ED in the case on September 3, 2019 and was granted bail by the Delhi High Court on October 23, 2019.

The case is based on a charge sheet filed by the Income Tax Department against them last year before a special court in Bengaluru on charges of alleged tax evasion and 'hawala' transactions worth crores of rupees.

Farooq Abdullah

On May 31, the ED had summoned National Conference president Farooq Abdullah to its Srinagar office in connection with a money laundering case linked to alleged financial irregularities in the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA).

The 84-year-old three-time chief minister of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state had recorded his statement in the same case in 2019.

The National Conference said the veteran leader would continue to cooperate with the authorities like he has done in the past.

Abdullah was JKCA president from 2001 to 2012 and the scam being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the ED is about alleged financial misappropriation between 2004 and 2009.

Satyendar Jain

Delhi's health minister Satyendar Jain on May 31 was sent to ED's custody till June 9 in a money laundering case.

A day earlier, ED had arrested the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader under the criminal sections of the PMLA.

Special Judge Geetanjli Goel issued the remand order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, sought Jain's custodial interrogation for 14 days.

He said there was a chequered layer of money and the agency was trying to find out if the accused was laundering somebody else's money and whether there were other potential beneficiaries.

TTV Dhinakaran

TTV Dhinakaran, founding general secretary of Amma Maikal Munnetra Kazhagam party, appeared before the ED in connection with the alleged bribing of Election Commission officials.

Nephew of V K Sasikala, he had earlier appeared before the probe agency on April 12.

According to reports, there were allegations of bribes being given to a senior officer of the Election Commission by Dhinakaran to get the two leaves symbol of AIADMK for the Sasikala faction