ED tells Kerala HC it has withdrawn summons issued to CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac

Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday informed the Kerala High Court that it has withdrawn the summons issued to senior CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac as part of the agency's probe into the alleged violations in the financial dealings of KIIFB during his tenure as the state Finance Minister in the previous LDF government.

The agency also told the court that it has also withdrawn the summons issued to the officials of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) in connection with the ED probe.

The submissions were made during hearing of a plea by Isaac and a KIIFB official alleging that only personal information was sought through the summons by ED and seeking quashing of the same.

In view of the agency withdrawing the summons, Justice Devan Ramachandran disposed of the petitions.

At the same time, the court also said that the ED was free to continue with its investigation in the matter.

Following the High Court order, Isaac, in a Facebook post, said he was only opposed to a fishing and roving enquiry by the agency into the activities of KIIFB without any evidence.

Isaac said that even the High Court agreed with his arguments.

He further said that while the ED can continue with its probe, if he were to be summoned, there has to be some proof or else he will move the court again.

Isaac, in the plea, had claimed that the summons issued to him to appear before the ED did not reveal the nature of the violation, if any, by him of the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) or what is the investigation about which his response is sought.

The ED had served a notice to the senior Marxist leader in July last year, seeking his appearance before it. He, however, did not appear before the probe agency, saying he had to attend classes at a party-run institute in the state capital.

Then, Isaac had termed the ED notice to him as a 'political move' by the BJP government at the Centre, alleging it was misusing all investigation agencies for its political gains.