The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday opposed a petition by journalist Rana Ayyub seeking to quash a look-out circular (LOC) issued against her barring her from travelling abroad.
The ED alleged before the High Court that Ms. Ayyub was involved in a serious offence regarding funds involving over ₹1 crore.
Justice Chandra Dhari Singh granted time to Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju to place certain facts on record and listed the matter for further hearing on April 4.
Ms. Ayyub was detained at the Mumbai airport by the Bureau of Immigration on March 29, when she was supposed to travel to London to attend some journalistic events.
She approached the High Court challenging the LOC and sought to quash any direction or instruction preventing her from travelling abroad.
The ASG and ED’s lawyer Amit Mahajan contended that monies were received not only in dollars but also in rupees, running to over one crore, and certain fake bills had been submitted by her, and money for relief work had been siphoned off.
The journalist, in her petition through advocates Vrinda Grover and Soutik Banerjee, said that on March 29, she arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, to board a flight to London to attend events on the global problem of cyber attacks on women journalists, as well as to deliver a keynote speech on the status of journalism in India.
However, she was detained at the airport and the officers of the Bureau of Immigration told her that they had instructions from the ED not to allow her to board the flight.
Later, the ED emailed summons to her under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and asked her to appear before the agency on April 1.
An inquiry was initiated by the Mumbai Zonal Office of ED under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against her last year and certain documents and information was sought from her.
Ms. Grover argued that Ms. Ayyub had been cooperating and participating in the investigation and termed the recent summons a sham and an afterthought. She said there was nothing on record to detain the journalist at the airport and no summons was pending against her and that the whole exercise was done in a complete hasty manner.
“Actually there is no inquiry or investigation to be done. This is a sham, to interrupt my fundamental right as a journalist to practise my profession and my fundamental right to free speech,” the lawyer argued.
The petitioner, in the petition, said she had responded to each and every summons issued by the ED under the PMLA and had also joined the investigation and recorded her statement, and provided necessary documents.
“There is thus nothing on record to suggest that the petitioner was evading the legal process. The respondent no. 2 (ED) has already filed a complaint under the PMLA, 2002, under Section 5 and provisionally attached part of the petitioner’s bank account. The proceedings are now past the stage of inquiry/investigation and are pending before the PMLA Adjudicating Authority in New Delhi, where the petitioner is due to file her reply on or before April 17,” the petition said.
It said she was required to travel abroad to attend the remaining journalistic events scheduled in London and Italy between April 1 and 11.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday opposed a petition by journalist Rana Ayyub seeking to quash a look-out circular (LOC) issued against her barring her from travelling abroad.The ED alleged before the High Court that Ms. Ayyub was involved in a serious offence regarding funds involving over ₹1 crore.Justice Chandra Dhari Singh granted time to Additional Solicitor General S.V. Raju to place certain facts on record and listed the matter for further hearing on April 4.Ms. Ayyub was detained at the Mumbai airport by the Bureau of Immigration on March 29, when she was supposed to travel to London to attend some journalistic events.She approached the High Court challenging the LOC and sought to quash any direction or instruction preventing her from travelling abroad.The ASG and ED’s lawyer Amit Mahajan contended that monies were received not only in dollars but also in rupees, running to over one crore, and certain fake bills had been submitted by her, and money for relief work had been siphoned off.The journalist, in her petition through advocates Vrinda Grover and Soutik Banerjee, said that on March 29, she arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Mumbai, to board a flight to London to attend events on the global problem of cyber attacks on women journalists, as well as to deliver a keynote speech on the status of journalism in India.However, she was detained at the airport and the officers of the Bureau of Immigration told her that they had instructions from the ED not to allow her to board the flight.Later, the ED emailed summons to her under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and asked her to appear before the agency on April 1.An inquiry was initiated by the Mumbai Zonal Office of ED under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) against her last year and certain documents and information was sought from her.Ms. Grover argued that Ms. Ayyub had been cooperating and participating in the investigation and termed the recent summons a sham and an afterthought. She said there was nothing on record to detain the journalist at the airport and no summons was pending against her and that the whole exercise was done in a complete hasty manner. “Actually there is no inquiry or investigation to be done. This is a sham, to interrupt my fundamental right as a journalist to practise my profession and my fundamental right to free speech,” the lawyer argued.The petitioner, in the petition, said she had responded to each and every summons issued by the ED under the PMLA and had also joined the investigation and recorded her statement, and provided necessary documents. “There is thus nothing on record to suggest that the petitioner was evading the legal process. The respondent no. 2 (ED) has already filed a complaint under the PMLA, 2002, under Section 5 and provisionally attached part of the petitioner’s bank account. The proceedings are now past the stage of inquiry/investigation and are pending before the PMLA Adjudicating Authority in New Delhi, where the petitioner is due to file her reply on or before April 17,” the petition said.It said she was required to travel abroad to attend the remaining journalistic events scheduled in London and Italy between April 1 and 11.