K.T. Jaleel, MLA, has decided to return the nearly 1,000 copies of Koran, which according to him, was provided by the UAE Consulate two years ago, for distribution in the State.
The import of the Koran and the distribution of dates and 1,000 food kits by the UAE Consulate during Ramzan during the term of the previous LDF government had created a political furore in the State. There were also allegations that gold was smuggled under the cover of Koran.
The import had invited the attention of the Customs and Enforcement Directorate, which were probing the diplomatic channel gold smuggling case. The agencies had also arraigned some of the senior functionaries of the UAE Consulate in the gold and US Dollar smuggling cases.
Though Mr. Jaleel, the then Minister for Hajj and Waqf, was repeatedly interrogated by the two agencies, he was not arraigned as an accused in any of the cases.
According to Mr. Jaleel, the decision to return the copies of Koran, which were kept in two institutions in Edappal and Alathiyoor, was taken to save those at the institutions from unnecessary trouble.
If the Holy Book is distributed in the State, there exists the possibility of those receiving the copies being summoned by various investigation agencies. Two mails to the Customs Commissioner seeking his opinion whether the copies could be distributed or returned to the UAE Consulate didn’t evoke any response, said Jaleel.
In his social media post, the legislator also shared a Malayalam translation of the letter he had reportedly written to the UAE Consulate requesting it to take back the copies.
Mr. Jaleel said he was unnecessarily targeted by his political opponents for heeding to the request of the consulate of UAE, the country where millions of Keralites were employed, for the distribution of Koran.
Swapna summoned
Meanwhile, Swapna Suresh, who was arraigned as an accused in the money laundering case booked by the ED, appeared before the investigation agency on Tuesday.
The investigation officials have reportedly allowed more time to Swapna to provide clarifications on her recent revelations that she released some audio clips regarding the investigation on the instruction of the top bureaucrat M. Sivasankaran.
