Thomas Isaac during an interview with The Hindu.
| Photo Credit: MAHINSHA S
The Kerala High Court on Tuesday asked the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) not to summon former Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, who is contesting from Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency as Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate, for questioning in connection with a case of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violations during the floating of masala bond by KIIFB till the Lok Sabha elections are over.
When his petition came up for hearing, Justice T.R. Ravi observed that since the petitioner is contesting the elections, he should not be troubled with summons for questioning during the election period.
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The court, after going through the files submitted by the ED, observed that Mr. Isaac needs to provide explanation for some of the end use transactions of funds received by way of masala bond. The court added that it was not proper for the court at this stage to disclose the details of transactions in the order, since these were matters to be put to the person facing investigation. The court observed that if the ED wanted to conduct an investigation into these transactions, it should be done after the elections.
The manner in which the explanation should be obtained by the ED will be considered at a later stage.
When the counsel for ED submitted that Mr. Isaac could be asked to appear on a date convenient to him, the court orally observed that if the court issued such a directive, the court would be pressuring him to give up his contention that he was not bound to appear before the ED.
The court posted the matter for further hearing on May 22.
Mr. Isaac submitted that the summons required him to appear before the ED and give oral evidence on the utilisation of funds received by way of the masala bond during his tenure as the chairman of executive committee and vice-chairman of general committee of KIIFB. The only intention behind the latest summons was to obstruct his election campaign.