Kerala High Court Reserves Judgment On AAP Member's Plea For ED Probe Against BJP Members In Kodakara Hawala Heist Case
The Kerala High Court reserved its judgment in the plea filed by State President of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Vinod Mathew Wilson who has approached the Court with a public interest litigation seeking action against individuals affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly committing hawala money transactions to the tune of 3.5 crores for use in campaigns during the 2021...
The Kerala High Court reserved its judgment in the plea filed by State President of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Vinod Mathew Wilson who has approached the Court with a public interest litigation seeking action against individuals affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for allegedly committing hawala money transactions to the tune of 3.5 crores for use in campaigns during the 2021 State Assembly elections.
The Division Bench comprising Justice Gopinath P and Justice Syam Kumar V M heard the matter and reserved its judgment. The case came to the public light when a car carrying money was robbed at Kodakara on the National Highway in April 2021.
The Counsel for ED submitted that the initial FIR was filed alleging offences like dacoity, robbery which are being investigated. The ED submitted that they conducted preliminary investigation in 2021 and in 2023 they have opened an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) for investigating the allegations raised in the FIR like dacoity, robbery etc. The ED submitted that they have to investigate all the aspects and then file a complaint after the investigation.
The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the final report revealed that persons affiliated with BJP have brought money through hawala transactions for the 2021 State Assembly election purposes. It was argued that the final report stated that they are still investigating the rest of the hawala amounts. The plea alleged that even after three years, no action has been taken based on the final report that sought a probe into the hawala chain by the ED and NIA invoking the provisions under the UAPA. It was argued that investigation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is warranted since hawala is a financial transaction mode that affects the economic security of the country
The court observed that the jurisdiction of the ED comes into play after the state police or an agency like CBI files an FIR for the commission of a scheduled offences.
“ED is not a super CBI or whatever it it is. Their job is limited to two enactments, one is FEMA and other is PMLA. PMLA can only be invoked if there is a scheduled offence, that is FIR is registered for a scheduled offence. What is their responsibility. They are not an investigating agency as such, their duty under PMLA is to attach or recover proceeds of crime to the government that is assets which are created using proceeds of crime will be forfeited to the government. That is their only duty under the PMLA….Please tell us any provision under PMLA that goes beyond that. They (ED) are not a super investigating agency,” orally observed Justice Gopinath P.
The plea has been moved by Advocates Manu Ramachandran, M.Kiranlal, T.S.Sarath, R.Rajesh, Sameer M Nair, Sailakshmi Menon, Jothisha K.A., Shifana M.
Case Title: Vinod Mathew Wilson v Union of India
Case Number: WPC 17179/2024