DK Shivakumar approaches Karnataka HC against CBI; notice issued to central agency
Bengaluru, Aug 1: KPCC president DK Shivakumar has approached the High Court of Karnataka seeking quashing of an FIR filed against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Justice Siddappa Sunil Dutt Yadav who heard the petition on Monday ordered notice to the CBI.
Senior counsels B V Acharya and C H Jadhav who argued on behalf of Shivakumar submitted that the FIR filed on October 3, 2020 against him was illegal.
The petition says though Shivakumar is the sole accused in the case, all his family members' properties are shown as his.
"The expression 'family members' is a vague term. In the present case, neither there is number of family members mentioned nor their identity disclosed," the petition says.
"The entire FIR does not refer to the properties in the possession of the sole accused. On the other hand, the possession referred to as every stage is to the property of DK Shivakumar and his family members together," the petition says.
The argument, on his behalf, also posted out that sanction from the competent authority has not been obtained.
"The CBI has failed to follow the procedure mentioned in the CBI Manual for investigating into disproportionate assets cases. There is no A-B-C-D statement mentioned in the FIR to determine the income, assets and expenditure of the petitioner for the said check period," the petition says.
The Income Tax Department had conducted a search of Shivakumar's properties in Karnataka and Delhi on August 2, 2017. This case is pending before a Special Court in Bengaluru.
In August 2018, the Enforcement Directorate filed a case based on the IT Department's search. A charge sheet was filed in this case.
In September 2019, the ED wrote to the State government to take action against Shivakumar for money-laundering.
On September 25, 2019 the State government gave sanction to the CBI to proceed against Shivakumar. After a preliminary enquiry, the CBI filed the FIR on October 3, 2020.
This is now challenged before the High Court by Shivakumar.
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Trump says EU has until July 4 to approve last year's trade deal or it will face higher tariffs
Washington (AP): President Donald Trump has said in a social media post that goods from the European Union would face higher tariff rates if the 27-member bloc fails to approve last year's trade framework by July 4.
The announcement on Thursday appeared to be a deadline extension after the president said last Friday that EU autos would face a higher 25 per cent tariff starting this week. Trump made the updated announcement after what he described as a "great call" with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Still, the US president was displeased that the European Parliament had yet to finalize the trade arrangement reached last year, which was further complicated in February by the US Supreme Court ruling that Trump lacked the legal authority to declare an economic emergency to impose the initial tariffs used to pressure the EU into talks.
"A promise was made that the EU would deliver their side of the Deal and, as per Agreement, cut their Tariffs to ZERO!" Trump posted. "I agreed to give her until our Country's 250th Birthday or, unfortunately, their Tariffs would immediately jump to much higher levels."
It was unclear from the post whether Trump was implying that the tariff rates would jump on all EU goods or the increase would only apply to autos.
His latest statement indicates he might be backing away from his earlier threat on EU autos by giving the European Parliament several more weeks to approve the agreement.
Under the original terms of the framework, the US would charge a 15 per cent tax on most goods imported from the EU.
But since the Supreme Court ruling, the administration has levied a 10 per cent tariff while investigating trade imbalances and national security issues, aiming to put in new tariffs to make up for lost revenues.
