Kochi: The ED cannot question former Finance Minister Thomas Isaac until Wednesday when the Kerala High Court will further hear Isaac’s plea challenging ED’s summons to appear before it in connection with KIIFB funds today.
The court directed the Enforcement Directorate (ED) not to proceed against Isaac of the CPM until then.
The court asked why the ED had sought details of the property owned by Isaac and his family which was not asked in the first summons.
The ED said that it had summoned Isaac only as a witness and not as an accused.
After skipping the first summons, Isaac was asked to appear before ED on Thursday.
Isaac had moved the court seeking to quash the summons to prevent the ED from initiating follow up action against him. He also wanted to know the charges against him.
In a similar case, a PIL filed by five Left parties MLAs challenging the power of ED to probe into the KIIFB came up before the High Court which expressed doubt about the tenability of the PIL.
The court has not recorded the case in file and it will hear the matter later.
In the PIL, the MLAs K K Shylaja, I B Satheesh, E Chandrashekharan, Kadanapally Ramachandran, and M Mukesh alleged that the ED was trying to derail LDF government’s developmental plans worth Rs 73,000 crore funded by KIIFB.
Interestingly, the Congress has backed its arch rival Left government on the issue.
The Congress had no other option as its Party Chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi were questioned by the ED in connection with the National Herald case.
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