MMK to appeal Jawahirullah’s conviction in Supreme Court

Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) has said it would challenge the conviction of its president Prof. M.H. Jawahirullah and party leader Hyder Ali in a foreign funds receipt case in the Supreme Court.

Manithaneya Makkal Katchi (MMK) has said it would challenge the conviction of its president Prof. M.H. Jawahirullah and party leader Hyder Ali in a foreign funds receipt case in the Supreme Court. The Madras High Court recently refused to interfere with the trial court verdict in the case in 2011, which gave them a one-year sentence.

In a statement, te party’s headquarters secretary, M. Jainulabdeen, said the funds in question were received through the Kovai Muslim Relief Fund (KMRF) to help those who had been suffering due to the violence allegedly perpetrated by Sangh Parivar groups and a section of the Police department in 1997, in which 19 Muslims were killed in rioting and police firing and suffered damage to their properties.

“Since the government did not provide adequate relief, the funds were received by the Kovai Muslim Relief Fund to provide relief to the victims of the violence and their families. However, the then Vajpayee government filed cases stating that funds from abroad were brought in against the law, and that the Income Tax department was cheated,” he said.

Mr. Jainulabdeen added that the case was investigated first by the CBI and then by the Income Tax department. “The CBI decided to attach Prof. M.H. Jawahirullah and Hyder Ali, both of whom were completely unrelated to the case. The reason for adding the two leaders to the case was because the KMRF office was functioning on the Tamil Muslim Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK) campus and it had campaigned against the BJP with great vigour in the 1999 Parliamentary elections. This was considered a political vendetta by human rights group at the time,” he alleged.

Mr. Jainulabdeen further said the Income Tax department had met all the donors in person and said there were no irregularities.

“In the case filed by the CBI, the Metropolitan Magistrate Court sentenced Prof. Jawahirullah and Hyder Ali to one-year imprisonment, and three administrative staff of the Relief Fund were given two years of imprisonment. The court did not accept the argument that no foreign funds were sought, and yet the court gave interim bail to them,” he said.

When the case was heard in the Additional CBI Court, it was argued that the Foriegn Contribution Regulation Act was not violated as those who had donated were Indians who worked abroad.