After AAP, ED set to name CPI(M) as accused in money laundering case

Weeks after naming Aam Aadmi Party as accused in the Delhi excise policy case, the Enforcement Directorate is set to name another political party as an accused in a different money laundering case.

The ED is probing allegations of crores being siphoned at the CPI(M)-controlled Karuvannur cooperative bank in Thrissur. Multiple CPI(M) functionaries have been accused in the case.

Naming a political party in such a case is unusual. It was the first time in the history of the country's jurisprudence when AAP was made an accused in the excise case.

But how did this practice start?

In October last year, the Supreme Court had raised the question of making AAP an accused. But the court had later clarified that it was just a legal question. Moreover, the Delhi High Court recently held that a political party can be brought within the purview of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

If CPI(M) is named as an accused in the alleged cooperative bank scam, it will be just the second instance of such jurisprudence.