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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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
