'If We Allow This, Any Politician Can Be Roped In' : Supreme Court Dismisses Pleas To Revive Bribery & PMLA Cases Against Ex-MLA KM Shaji

The Supreme Court today (November 26) upheld the Kerala High Court's judgments quashing bribery and money laundering cases against Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader and former MLA KM Shaji.

A bench of Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Augustine George Masih dismissed the special leave petitions filed against the High Court orders by the State of Kerala and the Directorate of Enforcement respectively.

The prosecution alleged that Shaji had accepted a bribe of Rs. 25 lakhs from the manager of Azhikode Higher Secondary School, Kannur, for sanctioning a Plus Two course in 2014-15. The money laundering case arose out of this bribery case.

The Court reviewed statements from 54 witnesses recorded during the investigation. Justice Oka observed that none of the statements indicated that Shaji personally demanded or received money. “You recorded 54 statements. Not a single witness says that the demand was made in his presence and money was paid to him, not a single witness. 50 Witnesses, including the manager, we have gone through the entire record. All hearsay that somebody else told me that money was demanded. Not a whisper about demand made by the respondent,” he noted.

He added, “If we allow this, any politician can be roped in...”

The counsel for the petitioner argued that the ongoing investigation into the FIR should not be interrupted and that the case should proceed to its logical conclusion. “Repeatedly your lordships have said issues like political motive, issues like political rivalry are not grounds to be taken at the stage of investigation.”

However, the Court did not accept the arguments and dismissed the SLPs.

The Court dismissed the SLP challenging the High Court order quashing the money laundering case against Shaji arising from the bribery allegations noting that it has upheld quashing of the bribery case.

Background

The Kerala High Court had earlier quashed proceedings initiated by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) against KM Shaji.

On April 13, 2023, Justice Kauser Edappagath quashed the FIR filed by the VACB, concluding that no prima facie case was made out. The court found no evidence of a demand for illegal gratification by Shaji.

On June 19, 2023, Justice PV Kunhikrishnan quashed the ED proceedings under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The court noted that since the bribery case had been quashed, the PMLA proceedings could not stand as per the Supreme Court's decision in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary & Others v. Union of India.

Case no. – SLP(Crl) No. 8039/2023, SLP(C) No. 28324/2023 Diary

Case Title – State of Kerala v. KM Shaji with Director, Directorate of Enforcement v. KM Shaji