National Conference president Farooq Abdullah ( Picture credits: TOI)

NEW DELHI/SRINAGAR: In a further setback to former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah , the Enforcement Directorate on Saturday attached assets of Rs 2.6 crore of Ahsan Ahmad Mirza and Mir Manzoor Gazanffer, close associates of the former CM, in a money laundering case for alleged misappropriation of funds of the J&K Cricket Association.

The attached assets consist of three FDRs (fixed deposit receipts) of Rs 1.29 crore with J&K Bank branch in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi. 11 Kanals of land with structure and commercial shopping complex at Pandrethan in Srinagar to the tune of Rs 1.31 crore ,” the ED in a statement said.

The ED has also unearthed several transactions where the JKCA funds were transferred “illegally” in the personal accounts of Mirza.

Sources said, between 2002 and 2011, the JKCA received Rs 112 crore from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Abdullah, then as its president, “appointed” Mirza as “treasurer” in 2003 though he was not elected at that time and through him allegedly laundered the money of the JKCA.

The ED, which has already questioned Abdullah once in the same case registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, has found that the former CM had allegedly used Mirza to open several accounts in the J&K Bank using fictitious documents to launder funds. Abdullah is currently under detention under the Public Safety Act .

Abdullah had allegedly made Mirza signatory to cheques issued in the name of J&K Cricket Association. Mirza, though not elected office bearer, was made “treasurer” of J&K Cricket Association by Abdullah through a resolution signed by him and then general secretary of the association, according to ED’s investigation.

The role of a senior executive of the J&K Bank, now retired, is also under scrutiny for helping the former J&K CM in opening these bank accounts based on “inadequate” documents. Mirza raised loans in these accounts from the bank and transferred them to his personal account and further laundered them, the probe has revealed.

When in 2007, the then elected treasurer of J&K Cricket Association (JKCA), Mir Manzoor Gazanffer, brought these fictitious transactions to the notice of JKCA president Farooq Abdullah, the latter ignored the anomalies in the association’s accounts, the ED probe has revealed. Gazanffer is now one of the accused for laundering the proceeds of crime.

It has been found that cheques of JKCA were deposited in the personal accounts of Mirza. Questioning of elected treasurer Gazanffer by the ED further revealed that he had signed some cheques, which were deposited in the personal accounts of Mirza, at the instructions of Farooq Abdullah.

Mirza was arrested by the ED in this case and a charge sheet under the PMLA has also been filed before a special court in Srinagar.

