Embezzlement case: ED attaches ₹2.6-cr assets of J&K cricket body

FORMER JAMMU AND KASHMIR CM AND NC PRESIDENT FAROOQ ABDULLAH HAS BEEN QUESTIONED BY THE ED IN THE CASE AS WELL

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth Rs 2.6 crore in a money-laundering case related to the alleged embezzlement of funds of the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA), the central agency said on Saturday.

A provisional order for attachment of assets has been issued under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against former treasurer of JKCA Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and its finance committee member Mir Mansoor Gazanffer, it said.

Former Jammu and Kashmir CM and NC president Farooq Abdullah has been questioned by the ED in the case as well.

Abdullah has been slapped with the Public Safety Act (PSA) and is under detention since August 5 last year.

“The attached assets consist of three FDRS (fixed deposit receipts) totalling Rs 1.29 crore with J&K Bank branch in Lajpat

Nagar, New Delhi, in the name of Mirza Sons, a partnership firm of Mirza and his father. 11 kanals of land with structure and commercial shopping complex at Pandrethan, Srinagar, to the tune of Rs 1.31 crore has also been attached,” the ED said in a statement.

The ED case is based on a CBI FIR as part of which the latter probe agency booked former office-bearers of JKCA, including general secretary Mohd Saleem Khan and Mirza.

The CBI later filed a chargesheet against Farooq Abdullah, Khan, Mirza, Mir Manzoor Gazanffer Ali, Bashir Ahmad Misgar and Gulzar Ahmad Beigh (former accountant of JKCA) for

“misappropriation of JKCA funds amounting to Rs 43.69 crore” from grants given by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to the association for promoting the sport in the state between 2002-11.

The ED said its probe found that during financial years 2005–2006 to 2011–2012 (up to December 2011) JKCA received Rs 94.06 crore from BCCI in three different bank accounts. “However, several other bank accounts were opened in the name of JKCA into which these funds were transferred. Such other bank accounts along with the existing bank accounts were later used for laundering funds of JKCA,” the ED alleged. Besides, it said, Mirza transferred huge amounts into his personal bank accounts and then these amounts were further transferred or withdrawn in cash. “Out of the laundered amounts, Rs 1.31 crore was received by Gazanffer who was a member of the finance committee of JKCA between 2006 to 2009,” the ED charged.