Kerala Govt Moves HC To Quash CBI FIR In 'LIFE Mission' Case

The Kerala Government has approached the High Court of Kerala against the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation alleging violations of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act in relation to the 'LIFE Mission' project.

The plea seeks to quash the FIR registered by the central agency on September 24 to the extent it relates to public servants under the government.

'LIFE(Livelihood, Inclusion and Financial Empowerment) Mission' is a housing project mooted by the Kerala Government for the benefit of the homeless.

The issue relates to the project for the construction of 140 housing units in Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district. As per the application filed in the HC, in 2019, the 'Red Crescent Authority' of the United Arab Emirates offered to sponsor the project and accordingly, a Memorandum of Understanding was entered into that year itself. As per the MoU, the sponsor was to execute the project through independent contractors.

Alleging that foreign contributions to the tune of 10 Lakh Arab Emirates Dirham were transferred to the private contractors - Unitac Ltd and Sane Ventures - in violation of FCRA norms, a legislator belonging to the Congress party, Anil Akkara, filed a complaint before the CBI on September 20.

After four days, the CBI registered the FIR under Section 35 read with Section 3 of the FCRA and Section 120B of the Indian Penal Code arraying the Managing Directors of Unitac and Sane Ventures as accused numbers 1 and 2 respectively.

As the third accused, the FIR mentioned "unknown public servants/private citizens".

Aggrieved by linking public servants to the FIR, the CEO of LIFE Mission approached the High Court of Kerala under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The application states that neither the Kerala Government nor the officials of LIFE Mission have accepted any foreign contributions. It is also stated out that the construction agreement is between Red Crescent and the private contractors and that the government was not a party to it.

It is further argued that Unitec and Sane Ventures, being construction companies carrying out work on the basis of an agreement with Red Crescent, do not come within the purview of Section 3 of the FCRA, which lists out the entities prohibited from accepting foreign contributions.

"Therefore, even if it is assumed for argument's sake that they had received any foreign contribution or any amount from Red Crescent, no offence under the Act can be said to have been committed", the plea states.

The competence of the CBI to register the FIR is also questioned. It is contended that Section 43 of the FCRA does not empower the Central Government to issue a notification specifying an agency to conduct any investigation in any State for the offences under the Act to the exclusion of the State Police machinery.

The government further alleges the move of the CBI is to expand the scope of the FIR to undertake a "roving enquiry" against the government officials circumventing the requirement of preliminary sanction under Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

"The CBI cannot investigate any offence other than the offence referred under the Act. The investigation of CBI, stretching beyond the offences under the Act, particularly going by the nature of the allegations in the Complaint, is an attempt to overcome the statutory prescription mandated by Section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act", the plea states.

It is alleged that the CBI is motivated by "extraneous political considerations" and that the FIR registered "in haste without preliminary enquiry" is mala-fide.

"It seems that the investigation, initiated though for the purported violation of Section 3 of the Act, is actually with the ulterior motive to satisfy the whims and fancies of the Managers of the investigating agency", reads the plea.