Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy said that he was not involved in the affairs of Jagathi Publications which runs Sakshi daily and TV channel ever since his resignation as the company’s director and consequentially as chairman on February 1 last year.
Responding to the plea of the Enforcement Directorate to examine him on charges of money-laundering as a representative of Jagathi Publications, Mr. Jagan fielded a counter-affidavit in the CBI court on Monday stating that the company had appointed its secretary, C.P.N. Karthik, to appear in all inquiries and legal proceedings.
The court had also allowed a petition by the company to replace Jagan with Mr. Karthik in all cases.
Jagan contended that the ED filed the petition for ‘collateral and extraneous’ reasons, knowing well that Jagathi Publications was not represented by him but by Mr. Karthik. Elaborating on it, he said the application was made at the instance of the CBI as the investigation agency could not record any incriminating statement from him when it had access to him. Therefore, the money-laundering route was chosen now.
His lawyer G. Ashok Reddy, who argued the case based on the counter, said the ED’s request was aimed at Jagan as a representative of Jagathi Publications and not as an individual which was not permissible since he had tendered his resignation. He asked the ED to examine Mr. Karthik and not Jagan as he was no longer associated with the company.
Mr. Reddy questioned how the ED could claim that a prima facie case was made out against Jagan without placing facts. In the absence of any material before the court, there was no justification in issuing summons to him.
‘Resignation immaterial’
The counsel for ED, Gopalakrishna Gokhale, said Jagan’s resignation was immaterial as the agency suspected him of contravening provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The ED viewed him as a suspect and not an accused.
On the basis of police reports, the agency stepped in to investigate how the proceeds of crime were projected as untainted money. The court reserved its order for Friday.
