ED Vs. Kerala Police- Enforcement Directorate Assails Kerala Police's FIR Against ED Officials, Moves Kerala High Court

The Enforcement Directorate has moved the Kerala High Court against the State Police's FIR filed against the agency. The matter was mentioned before a bench of Justice VG Arun on Tuesday. The Kerala Police lodged a First Information Report against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) alleging that officers of the agency coerced key accused in the gold smuggling and dollar smuggling cases to implicate the Chief Minister and others. Aggrieved, the ED has moved the High Court. The ED's writ petition, filed through mns Nayar & Co, has sought the quash of the FIR. In the alternative, the ED has prayed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducts an investigation into the allegations contained in the FIR. Recently, in a statement made in the High Court, the Customs Department asserted that the prime accused in gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, made "shocking revelations" against Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, Speaker and three Ministers regarding smuggling of US Dollars in her statement recorded under Section 164 CrPC. "It is submitted that in the 108 Statement and 164 Statement the 1st respondent(Swapna Suresh) has made shocking revelations about the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Hon'ble Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly and some Hon'ble Ministers of the State Cabinet", a statement filed by the Department of Customs in the Kerala High Court recites. The ED's bid to access these statements was stopped by an Ernakulam Economic Offences Court, which ruled that the statements under Section 164 could not be made available to an investigating officer in a separate investigation. Prison Officers of the prison Swapna Suresh was lodged in as well as co-accused Sandeep Nair have levelled allegations that the Officers of the Central agencies have been coercing the accused to implicate ministers and high-ranking officials in the government.Terming the allegations, particularly Sandeep's as bogus, the petition asks why the allegations were not raised at earlier stages before the relevant court. 'Registered with the oblique motive of derailing the trial'The ED has asserted that the FIR against its officers was done to derail investigations into the gold smuggling and consequent money laundering offences. Pointing out that the High Court as well as the Special Court had on several occasions found prima facie commission of the offence, the ED states, "Impugned FIR has been registered with an oblique motive to put pressure on the investigating officers not only to derail the statutory investigation into the offence of money laundering under PMLA committed by highly influential persons in the State but also ensure that the trial is not conducted in a fair and impartial matter because certain highly placed persons are involved in the case." The ED also terms the inquiry proceedings preliminary to registering the offence a farce averring that its officers were not questioned at any time. Additionally, when narrating the sequence of events, the ED's plea makes mention of former Kerala Principal Secretary M Sivasankar's connection to the gold smuggling investigation as well as the alleged kickbacks received out of the LIFE Mission Project. Therefore, the ED urge the Court to quash the proceedings instituted by the Kerala Police against its officials or alternatively, give direction for an investigation by the CBI.

ED Vs. Kerala Police- Enforcement Directorate Assails Kerala Police's FIR Against ED Officials, Moves Kerala High Court

Lydia Suzanne Thomas

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