Kochi, Mar 5 (IANS): Veteran CPI-M leader and former Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac, who is busy in his election campaign in the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat, on Tuesday suffered a jolt when the Enforcement Directorate (ED) asked him to appear before them on March 12 with all the documents relating to the issue of masala bonds.

Isaac has, so far, been served five notices to appear by the ED but has ignored them. Despite his best efforts to get a stay, he is yet to get any relief from the Kerala High Court, which orally pointed out last month that "it’s only a summons".

A total of Rs 2,150 crore was raised through the masala bonds by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) in 2019 when Isaac was the Finance Minister in the first Pinarayi Vijayan government (2016-21).

A former professor of economics and a four-time legislator, Issac did not figure in the CPI-M list for the 2021 elections. For the past nearly three years, he was more into academics than politics, when his name was cleared to contest the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha seat, which, since its inception in 2009, has been held by the Congress' Anto Antony, who, in all likelihood, will be asked to defend his seat.

Anil Antony, son of veteran Congress leader and former Defense Minister A.K.Antony, has been chosen by the BJP to contest the seat.