ED summons Shivakumar in money laundering case
The ED filed a chargesheet against Shivakumar in a money laundering case from the year 2018 on May 26 this year and the court took cognisance of the case and issued summons for the appearance of the Karnataka Congress chief in court on July 1.
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Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar (Photo: File)Karnataka Congress president D K Shivakumar has been served summons by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to appear before the agency later this month in connection with a money laundering case where a chargesheet was filed in May.
“In the midst of the Bharat JodoYatra and the assembly session, they have again issued me an ED summon to appear. I am ready to cooperate but the timing of this summon and the harassment I am put through, is coming in the way of discharging my constitutional and political duties,” Shivakumar said on social media on Thursday.
Sources said Shivakumar has been summoned to appear before the ED on September 20. Last month, the ED had summoned and questioned a former AICC functionary, V Mulgund, with whom the KPCC chief had transactions worth Rs 5 crore in 2017, according to documents found in an initial probe by the IT department.
The Congress’s Bharat Jodo Yatra is set to enter the state on Sept 29.
“In an attempt to thwart the preparations for Bharat JodaYatra and harass Congress leaders, ED has summoned KPCC president D K Shivakumar again. While the Congress in Karnataka continues to expose the 40 per cent government, BJP is misusing institutions to divert attention of people. I condemn this,” former CM and Congress leader in the state legislature Siddaramaiah said on Thursday.
The ED filed a chargesheet against Shivakumar in a money laundering case from the year 2018 on May 26 this year and the court took cognisance of the case and issued summons for the appearance of the Karnataka Congress chief in court on July 1.
The Karnataka Congress chief and four others — Sachin Narayan, Sunil Sharma, Anjaneya Hanumanthaiah, and Rajendra N — were investigated by the ED following a preliminary complaint filed in 2018 on the basis of a 2017 IT department investigation into the income and assets of Shivakumar.
Following its investigations, the ED filed a prosecution complaint against Shivakumar on May 26 alleging that Shivakumar as a Congress minister in Karnataka generated a huge amount of illegal wealth and that the wealth was hidden away through a “criminal conspiracy” with associates. The conspiracy involved tax evasion and storing of cash in Delhi, ED has alleged.
Unaccounted cash of Rs 8.59 crore that was found at various properties in New Delhi belonging to Shivakumar’s associates in 2017 has been linked to the money laundering conspiracy by the ED. Two accused, Anjaneya and Rajendra, have told the ED that Rs 6.6 crore seized from a flat was brought to the flat on the orders of Shivakumar. It is alleged that the flat where the money was found was being used by Shivakumar and Sunil Sharma to store cash.
“There is a legal system in the country. There is the law of the land – there is justice, ethics, truth, and dharma and I have faith in these things. I know I have not done anything wrong and the state knows it and the country knows,” Shivakumar said after the ED chargesheet.
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