By P Sreekumaran
Leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Keralam Assembly, Pinarayi Vijayan, has rejected allegations of hawala dealings involving him, his daughter T Veena or any other member of his family.
In a strongly-worded statement, Pinarayi has asserted that his “hands are clean and will remain clean.” In response to questions about the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) money laundering investigation involving Veena and allegations of hawala transactions, the Leader of the Opposition said his daughter had fully cooperated with the investigation and will continue to provide any information sought by the agency.
“Neither I, my daughter nor any member of my family has engaged in any hawala dealings. I am fully convinced about that. Our hands are clean and will remain clean,” he said. Veena, Pinarayi said, is being targeted because she is his daughter. Adding that there are people who have been after him and targeting him.
The LOP also said that his daughter was “not a very rich person” and that the amount being discussed was not particularly large.
He also took strong exception to the ED’s decision to issue a press release in connection with the case. The ED normally publishes such information on its website. Such selective leakage of the investigation shows the political motive behind the action, Pinarayi pointed out.
In a related development, former minister and CPI(M)’s Beypore MLA Mohammed Riyas has threated legal action against reports which appeared in some sections of the media on the case. These reports alleged that the money received by Veena, his wife and the LoP’s daughter, from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd.(CMRL) was routed through his bank account to the accounts of several others.
The reports had also stated that Riyas had been called twice by the ED seeking an explanation and that he had not been able to offer any clarity to the questions.
In his Facebook post, Riyas said the media reports were totally false and “humbug”. These reports had appeared despite his having responded to the media queries in detail. He also made it clear that he would not respond to every baseless report appearing in the media on a daily basis as the probe was ongoing. “I have done nothing wrong and have the full confidence that I can contest this legally,” he added.
Riyas’s statement comes against the backdrop of intensifying investigations by the ED into the alleged irregularities involving the CMRL and Veena’s IT company, Exalogic Solutions. He had explained in the beginning itself that all transactions were through legitimate bank accounts and that the taxes had been paid.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) state secretary M. V. Govindan has lambasted the ED for taking up cases with a political motive and bias to target leaders of opposition parties in the country. He was speaking at a public meeting on “The politics of ED”, held at Kozhikode to explain the party’s position related to the ED’s recent searches on the premises of the friends and acquaintances of Riyas. Veena is capable of handling the case on her own, and the party will not interfere with the probe. But if the Ed proceeds against Riyas and other CPI(M) leaders, then the party will certainly defend them. That is the latest position of the CPI(M) on the case.
Ever since the Modi government came to power in the Centre in 2014, the ED has been registering cases not based on facts, but for political reasons. The ED first sets a political target and then starts the investigation to find evidence. Almost 95 per cent of the accused in cases filed by the ED belong to opposition parties, Govindan pointed out. In support of his statement, he cited the example of senior journalist Prabir Purkayastha, the founder of Newsclick; and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who were initially implicated by the agency and later acquitted by courts citing lack of evidence.
The politics behind the targeting of only opposition leaders is clear from the fact that financial misappropriation charges against BJP leaders were not being pursued. For instance, Govindan said the ED was not interested in probing the Kodakara highway heist case and the charges of misappropriation of election funds which involved BJP functionaries.
The ED, Govindan claimed, has registered around 5,900 cases in the past 12 years and 7450 raids were conducted across the country. However, charge-sheets were filed in only 9 per cent of them. And the number of convictions was only 25! “The agency is trying to create a smokescreen around our leaders to tarnish their reputation among the people. Strange press releases with baseless claims are being issued on a regular basis. A section of the news media is going to town about it also,” he said.
The CPI(M) state secretary also accused the ED of now deliberately trying to extend the cases involving Veena and CPI(M) leaders such as P. Nikhil. The agency is now targeting Riyas’s friends because the searches at Pinarayi’s residences and Riyas’s house earlier did not yield any evidence. “We will fight the case politically and legally, Govindan averred.
That the case smacks of political vendetta, is also evident from the fact that only Veena is being targeted. The amount involved in the case is only Rs 2.78 crore. It is a known fact that top political leaders of the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League are also recipients of the funds disbursed by the CMRL. The leaders themselves have admitted receiving the payments. But still, no cased has been filed against them by the ED! The facts are self-explanatory. No further proof is needed to expose the political nature of the ED probe. (IPA Service)
