Kerala’s Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan whether the “covert understanding” between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] had helped him in delaying an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) into the suspicious financial transactions involving the company owned by Mr. Vijayan’s daughter.
Mr. Satheesan, who posed five questions to Mr. Vijayan at a press conference on the sidelines of the Congress party’s interaction with the public as part of its ‘Samaragni’ protest march in Kochi on February 20 (Tuesday), pointed out that the ED failed to probe the allegations for three years, going by the report submitted by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) before the Karnataka High Court in the case related to the alleged illegal transactions involving Exalogic, the company owned by the Chief Minister’s daughter, and the Cochin Minerals and Rutiles Ltd (CMRL) at Aluva.
The ED reportedly stumbled upon the illegal transactions just before the Assembly elections in 2021. The State leadership of the BJP could also respond to this question, said Mr. Satheesan.
Recalling a statement made by the Chief Minister in the Kerala Assembly in which he mentioned that his daughter’s firm was under the scanner of agencies earlier, Mr. Satheesan asked whether Mr. Vijayan was ready to divulge the details of the probe and the name of the agencies involved in it.
He also asked the Chief Minister to reveal the names of other firms that had given “undue benefits” to his daughter’s company. The Chief Minister should make it clear whether these firms received any tax sops from the government, he said.
The Leader of the Opposition asked whether Mr. Vijayan was ready to explain the findings that only a portion of the loans extended by a non-banking finance company affiliated to the CMRL to his daughter’s firm had reached the official account of the company. “Where did the rest of the money go?” he asked.
Mr. Satheesan accused Health Minister Veena George of having “misled” the State Assembly by refuting reports of severe shortage of various medicines in government hospitals. He quoted a report submitted by the Kerala Government Medical Officers’ Association (KGMOA) to the Health Minister explaining the shortage of medicines.
On T.P. murder case
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran, who attended the press meet along with Mr. Satheesan, alleged that the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan was carried out with the consent of the State leadership of the CPI(M).
Party workers in two districts were involved in the murder and they will not have acted without the green signal of the party leadership, he alleged.
