Bar Bribery Charges
Thiruvananthapuram: Close on the heels of the arrest of two Muslim League MLAs in separate cases, the LDF government has initiated a fresh vigilance probe against opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and former ministers K Babu and V S Sivakumar over the recent disclosures in the bar bribery case.
The opposition, however, termed the development as a witch hunt to divert attention from the charges against the government. The three-phase local body polls will be held from December 8 and central agencies are probing many government projects. IUML legislators V K Ebrahim Kunju and M C Kamarudeen were arrested in corruption and cheating cases recently.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan has given his consent to the vigilance probe against the Congress leaders on the basis of hotelier Biju Ramesh’s latest claims that bar hotel owners had pooled Rs 10 crore to be given as bribe to the UDF leaders. He had claimed that of this amount, Rs 1 crore was given to former KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala, Rs 50 lakh to former excise minister K Babu and Rs 25 lakh to former health minister V S Sivakumar.
The government has sought the permission of governor Arif Mohammed Khan and speaker Sreeramakrishnan to initiate the vigilance probe, as mandated by the latest amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act. It was claimed that the UDF leaders had collected a large amount of money from bar hotel owners by promising them a favourable decision on the bar licence fee.
Ramesh Chennithala said the government's move was politically motivated. "My hands are clean. The vigilance had twice found the bribery allegation baseless. In fact, what the CM did is contempt of court. He doesn’t have the right to order preliminary inquiry into a case pending in the court. Biju Ramesh has only repeated what he had claimed earlier and was proved wrong. I welcome any probe; I have nothing to fear or hide," he said.
KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran said the chief minister has lost his balance. "He knows he will be hauled to jail any time soon. It’s this realisation that prompts him to frame opposition leaders in cases. The chief minister should also clarify why he did not order a probe into Biju Ramesh's allegations against Jose K Mani?," he said.
Biju Ramesh had also alleged that the Jose K Mani faction in the KC (M), which joined the LDF recently, had offered money to withdraw the bribery allegations against K M Mani.
Former chief minister Oommen Chandy said the LDF government was trying to resurrect the bar bribery case with political motives. "The government knows very well that the case won’t stand legal scrutiny. There is nothing new in the complainant's statements. The government won't get clearance for another probe if the governor goes through the chronology of the case," he said.