HC lists for hearing on Feb 7 AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan's plea against ED probe

The Delhi High Court on Thursday listed for hearing on February 7 a petition by AAP MLA Amanatullah Khan against a money laundering probe and the summons issued to him by the Enforcement Directorate.

A bench headed by Justice Rekha Palli, while deferring the hearing at the request by the AAP leader's lawyer, however, clarified it has not granted any interim protection to him.

''It is made clear that this court has not issued notice on the petition nor granted any interim protection to the petitioner at this stage,'' the bench, also comprising Justice Rajnish Bhatnagar, said.

The counsel for Khan sought an adjournment on the ground that the senior advocate who has to argue the case was not available.

The money laundering probe against Khan is linked to alleged irregularities in recruitment by the Delhi Waqf Board.

It is alleged that Khan, while working as the chairman of the Delhi Waqf Board, had illegally recruited 32 people in violation of norms and government guidelines.

The ED, which earlier conducted raids on the premises linked to the Okhla MLA, has claimed he acquired “huge proceeds of crime” in cash from illegal recruitment of staff in the Delhi Waqf Board and invested those to purchase immovable assets in the name of his associates.

The Enforcement Directorate opposed Khan's petition for adjournment, saying he did not appear before it on January 30 despite the summons.

In his petition, Khan has sought directions from the court to ''read down'' certain PMLA provisions pertaining to the powers of authorities concerned to issue summons and seek evidence.

The rule of reading down involves saving statutory provisions from being struck down as illegal or unconstitutional.

He has also sought directions for quashing any investigation in the ECIR (Enforcement Case Information Report), the ED's version of FIR, on the ground that no proceeds of crime are involved in the original scheduled/predicate offence-- the FIRs registered by the CBI and Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), Delhi over alleged corruption.

The petition also sought quashing of the ACB FIR on the ground that the law proscribes registration of a second FIR with respect to the same alleged offence.

''It is incomprehensible as to how the ED has chosen to make sweeping allegations in the ECIR and commenced its investigations under PMLA for all allegations in the FIR when to the contrary in the Charge-sheet filed in the said Scheduled/Predicate Offence certain allegations have been found to be ‘administrative irregularities’,'' the petition said. ''Under no circumstances can the ED take up investigations for offence of money laundering beyond the specific proceeds of crime relatable to that particular Scheduled/Predicate offence,'' it added. Khan was granted bail in the ACB case in September 2022 after his arrest earlier that month.

He was granted regular bail in the CBI case in March 2023.

Recently, the ED filed a chargesheet in the matter against five people and entities, including three alleged associates of Khan-- Zeeshan Haider, Daud Nasir and Jawed Imam Siddiqui-- who were arrested by the central agency in November 2023.