Keral

Nothing wrong in tie-up with KPMG: Chief Minister

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the State’s decision to contract the KPMG to offer consultancy on how to rebuild flood-ravaged Kerala was not legally dubious as alleged by the Opposition.

He said the KPMG had offered some of its services free to the government when the floods had ravaged the State in 2018 and 2019.

Later, the Rebuild Kerala Initiative had constituted an expert committee to hire a consultancy to provide direction and fast-track the scheme. It vetted several applicants and finally settled on the KPMG, given their expertise and body of work across the globe.

The government had contracted the KPMG through a transparent and legal process.

Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had alleged significant ticket corruption in the hiring. The government’s initiative to rebuild Kerala was limited to awarding costly consultancies to corporates. The Rebuild Kerala was an initiative that existed only on paper.

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