The Kerala High Court on Thursday asked the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and its Chief Executive Officer K.M. Abraham to respond to the summons issued by the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in connection with the investigation into the alleged Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) violation in the issue of Masala bond by the KIIFB.
When the petition challenging the summons came up for hearing, Justice Devan Ramachandran orally observed that the investigation into the case could not be interdicted. The court said it did not understand why everybody should be scared of summons.
Counsel for the ED submitted that if the KIIFB officials cooperated with the investigation, the ED could wind up the investigation. The ED had been investigating over 100 cases of violations of the FEMA, in which high-profile individuals were involved and they appeared before the investigation officers in response to summons and provided the details sought. There were hardly any controversy over the summons issued to them.
