Madras high court summons ED officials for contempt in Tasmac case

CHENNAI: Madras high court on Monday ordered the physical appearance of three Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, including an assistant director and the PMLA Adjudicating Authority, for issuing summons to film producer Akash Baskaran in violation of a court order.

The ED issued the summons despite an interim order passed by the court staying all further proceedings initiated for money laundering in connection with the raids conducted to unearth the alleged Rs 1,000 crore Tasmac liquor scam.

A division bench of Justice M S Ramesh and Justice V Lakshminarayanan directed the appearance of Vikas Kumar, ED assistant director, the Adjudicating Authority under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), and its registrar on Dec 15.

The orders were passed on a contempt of court proceeding moved by Akash Baskaran against the ED. When the plea came up for hearing, the bench wondered why the officers had not appeared in court even after their appeals against the interim order were dismissed by the Supreme Court.

“The SLP was dismissed. The original statutory notice issued to him mandated their personal appearance. Why weren’t they present in court?” the bench questioned.

The issue pertains to an ongoing investigation into the alleged Rs 1,000 crore liquor scam involving Tasmac and its officials. In connection with the case, the ED conducted searches at properties linked to film producer Akash Bhaskaran and businessman Vikram Ravindran, during which documents were seized from Bhaskaran.

Subsequently, pointing out that the ED lacks the power to lock and seal premises, the high court directed the ED to return the seized documents to Akash Bhaskaran and restrained the agency from taking any further action based on those documents.

However, since the ED summoned Akash Bhaskaran despite the restraining order, the bench on July 23 censured the ED for violating the court orders. The court also granted liberty to the film producer to move a contempt of court petition against the ED if necessary. Subsequently, the producer filed a contempt petition against the ED.