Kodakara Heist: Kerala High Court dismisses PIL by AAP State President against ED probe

The The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition moved by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) State President Vinod Mathew Wilson raising concerns about the probe into the 2021 Kodakara black money heist which allegedly involves Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State President K Surendran [Vinod Mathew Wilson v. Union of India & Ors.].A division bench of Justices P Gopinath and Syam Kumar VM dismissed the PIL as non-maintainable and stated that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is not an investigating agency to probe matters unless the same is registered as a scheduled offence."From the above, it is clear that the Enforcement Directorate is not an investigating agency stricto pp.psensu. The command and mandate of the Enforcement Directorate under the 2002 Act is to ensure that no person benefits from the proceeds of crime derived out of the commission of a scheduled offence and to see that such property is confiscated to the State," the Court added..In April 2021, days before the Kerala Legislative Assembly Election, a car travelling on the National Highway near Kodakara in Thrissur was looted. The driver of the car filed a complaint that ₹25 lakh, which was supposed to be payable to one Dharmajan, was taken away. The amount involved was later found to be more than ₹3 crores.According to Wilson, during the course of the investigation into the heist, it was found that unaccounted money was brought from Karnataka to Kerala to be used for the election campaign of BJP as per the directions of BJP office bearers including Surendran.In his PIL, Wilson contended that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has delayed its probe into the money laundering activities that was unearthed in the investigation by the State Police. The delay makes it clear that without the Court's intervention, the ED would not take action against the persons involved in the hawala transactions.The hawala system refers to an informal and illegal channel for transferring funds from one location to another.Wilson argued that the offences alleged in the case would be punishable under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and that the same ought to be investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA)."The hawala transactions is having hamful ramifications affecting economic security of India. The investigation under UAPA Act is warranted in the matter. Any act which affects the economic security of India is termed as terrorist act as per S.15 of the UAPA Act and hence a thorough investigation is warranted in the matter," the PIL stated.Wilson informed the Court had he had sent representations to the ED to take further action against the persons involved in the hawala transactions. Another representation was sent to the Central government and NIA seeking action under the UAPA and NIA Act.However, no action has been taken in this regard, Wilson contended.Therefore, he approached the High Court with the present PIL seeking directions to the concerned authorities to consider and take action on the representations he has sent them..When the matter came up before the Court recently, the counsel for the ED questioned the maintainability of the PIL and informed the Court that the ED's investigation is almost complete. He also contended that Wilson's petition, moved 3 years after the incident, was one that was politically motivated, especially considering the fact that the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections are currently underway.The Court then orally observed it would not permit the court to be used as a venue for political fights and opined that the investigating agencies seem to be doing their jobs. .The Court in its order today said that ED is only responsible for investigating the offence of money laundering under PMLA so that it can attach or recover proceeds of crime to the government. It noted that the ED has taken effective steps by registering a case based on the final report filed by the Kodakara police station and was efficiently enquiring about the proceeds of crime including the money trail.The Court also stated that the final report did not suggest that any of the scheduled offences listed under the National Investigation Agency Act had been committed.The Court also observed that the petitioner was not able to justify his locus standi for filing the writ petition as a PIL.Hence, it proceeded to dismiss the plea. .Wilson was represented by advocates Manu Ramachandran, K Kiranlal, TS Sarath, R Rajesh, Sameer M Nair, Sailakshmi Menon, Jothisha KS and Shifana M.Central Government Counsel Jaishankar V Nair appeared for the ED.Senior Central Government Counsel Advocate T C Krishna appeared for the Union and National Investigation Agency..[Read Judgement]