Lakshadweep: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted raids at the house and office of Mohammed Faizal P P who is the Member of Parliament representing the Union Territory of Lakshadweep in the Lok Sabha. The raids were also held at a few properties linked to him in Kerala. ED sleuths carried out the raids at his house at Androth Island in Lakshadweep and the official residence in Delhi on Saturday.
Searches were conducted at a firm run by his relatives at Beypore in Kerala's Kozhikode district and at the houses of two of his family members in Kochi. The ED seized certain property records and financial documents, claimed sources.
The ED was reportedly on the lookout for the documents related to the financial transactions over the export of tuna fish, a source hinted. The Central Bureau of Investigation had earlier booked the MP over alleged irregularities in fish export. The MP was present at the house in Androth while the raid was being conducted.
The tuna export case
Faizal and certain officials at the Lakshadweep Cooperative Marketing Federation had carried out the fish export in 2016-2017 without following the requisite tender procedures, as per the case. They had also allegedly procured 287 tonnes of tuna from fishermen in Lakshadweep, with the assurance that they can earn more by exporting at a higher price. The promise was that tuna would be exported to Sri Lanka, but no one was paid the money. Faizal is the first accused in the case registered by the CBI.
In January, the Lok Sabha Secretariat had disqualified Faizal after he was convicted by a sessions court in Lakshadweep's Kavaratti in an attempt-to-murder case. The High Court of Kerala subsequently stayed this order and the disqualification was later revoked.