Not Taken Any Coercive Steps Against CMRL Officials, No Criminal Prosecution Has Commenced: ED Tells Kerala High Court

The officials of CMRL were being summoned by the ED to enquire about the allegations of committing cognizable offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 by cheating and misappropriating large amounts of public money.

Justice T R Ravi heard the arguments submitted by Advocate Zoheb Hussain, Special Counsel appearing on behalf of the ED.

The Counsel for ED submitted that officials of CMRL cannot approach the High Court to quash the entire investigation conducted by the ED. It was argued that such a relief was completely untenable since there was no case that the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) registered by the ED against the officials of CMRL was illegal.

It was also submitted that there is no violation of Fundamental rights or legal rights of the officials of the CMRL. It was submitted that the ED had only summoned and recorded the statements of the officials, and they have not taken any coercive actions like making arrests. 

It was submitted that no arrests were made and no criminal prosecution was taken against the officials of CMRL. It was further argued that the summoning and recording statements are legitimate part of the investigation conducted by the ED to assess whether there is any contravention under the statute or not.

The Counsel for ED submitted that there is no issue of self-incrimination or violation of Article 20 (3) of the Constitution since there was no compulsion, illegal confinement, threat or coercion made against the officials of CMRL. 

It was submitted that if any instances of illegal confinement or coercion had taken place during the recording of statements from CMRL officials, they would have approached the Court seeking compensation through a different legal proceeding rather than filing a writ petition under Article 226 to challenge the investigation. 

It was also submitted that summoning and recording statements of officials of CMRL was not a ground to quash the ECIR or the entire investigation of the ED by filing this writ petition.

Background

The present petition to quash the proceedings initiated by the ECIR was filed by officials of CMRL; Senior Manager N C Chandrashekharan, Senior Officer Anju Rachael Kuruvila, Chief Financial Officer K S Suresh Kumar and Managing Director S N Sasidharan Kartha. The petition was also filed seeking a stay on the proceedings, including a stay on the summons issued against the officials.

CMRL was involved in a slew of bribery and money laundering allegations. It was alleged that CMRL has handed bribes to Veena Thaikandiyil (Veena Vijayan), daughter of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and her company Exalogic Solutions Pvt. Ltd., as well as other public servants and carried illegal financial transactions.

Earlier, the Court had directed the ED to preserve and retain the CCTV visuals of the interrogation of CMRL officials (petitioners) who were summoned by the ED.

The matter has been posted to August 7^th for further hearing.

Case Title: WPC 15757/2024

Case Number: M/S. Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited V Directorate of Enforcement