HC’s no to staying ED summons to ex-Congress minister

Bengaluru, Aug 29 (IANS) In a setback to former Congress minister D.K. Shivakumar, the Karnataka High Court on Thursday declined to stay the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate in December 2018 to him in an alleged money laundering case, an official said.

Dismissing the writ petitions of Shivakumar and four others for quashing the summons, Justice Aravind Kumar directed them to appear before the ED and face the inquiry on the alleged hawala transactions in violation of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002," an ED official told IANS here.

The other four petitioners are Sachin Narayana, Sunil Kumar Sharma, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah and Rajendra, who are associates of the high-profile lawmaker from the Kanakapura assembly segment and a trouble-shooter of the Congress.

The alleged money laundering came to light after raids by the tax sleuths on the premises of Shivakumar in Bengaluru, Kanakapura and New Delhi on August 2, 2017 led to seizure of unaccounted cash worth Rs 8.59 crore and no evidence on its source.

Cases were filed against all the five accused under sections 277 and 278 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 and sections 120(B), 193 and 199 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

"The judge also observed that it was for the law enforcing agencies like the ED and I-T department to ascertain if the offence was in violation of the PMLA and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988," said the official.

A party source said Shivakumar was likely to approach the Supreme Court against the High Court order dismissing his petition in the case.