T’PURAM/THRISSUR: State finance minister T M Thomas Isaac on Wednesday dubbed the Enforcement Directorate officials probing the alleged violations of regulatory frameworks by KIIFB as a ‘bunch of jokers’ subservient to the BJP government at the Centre. Isaac said that ED’s actions were triggered by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman who, at a political meeting on Sunday when BJP state president K Surendran’s Vijay Yatra reached Tripunithura, questioned KIIFB’s right to mobilize foreign funding.
Taking the attack to a personal level, Isaac said senior IRS officer Manesh Godra, leading the ED team in Kochi, was the son of a Rajasthan BJP leader and accused the officer for being the party’s man Friday. “This officer had conducted several raids for BJP. He did play several games to unsettle the Congress government in Rajasthan. The Congress leaders in Kerala should all know this,” said Isaac.
Addressing media persons here, Isaac said the ED officials have no idea about the organizational structure and functioning of KIIFB and were making futile efforts to link the Infrastructure Board Fund with gold smuggling, money laundering and the like.
“The questions that ED had asked the chartered accountant of M Sivasankar (chief minister’s former principal secretary) show how poor is ED officials’ understanding about KIIFB. They have mistaken it for an NBFC. The KIIFB officials were summoned to the ED office twice earlier and now the KIIFB CEO and deputy CEO have been asked to report at the ED office on March 4. The BJP government is misusing ED to settle political scores against the state government. The political bosses sitting in New Delhi should understand that it’s not the docile Congress leaders they are fighting against,” said Isaac.
The agency decided to summon the KIIFB CEO and deputy CEO a day after Nirmala Sitharaman spoke against KIIFB at a public rally. The Union finance minister is using the probe agency under her for political purposes during the election season, he alleged. The ED, he said, was trying to scare and demoralize officials, insisting on certain answers they want to contrive from them.
Isaac continued to hinge his argument that KIIFB is a body corporate and the existing laws and regulations in the country do not restrict a body corporate from sourcing funding from outside the country.
“There is no FERA violation act. If they (ED) claim so, let them prove it. The masala bond was issued following all procedures, which includes clearance from RBI. It’s nonsense to say that the money sourced by a body corporate should be counted as the borrowing of the state government. If that is the case, why are the loans taken by NHAI not added to the liabilities of the Union government?” he asked.
Centre violating model code,says Vijayaraghavan
CPM acting secretary and LDF convener Vijayaraghavan on Wednesday alleged that the Centre is indulging in gross violation of the model code of conduct by deploying ED to target KIIFB floated by the state government.
Speaking to media persons, Vijayaraghavan said the Centre had been trying to decimate KIIFB through various means despite the institution doing yeomen services for Kerala’s development.
“Now they are deploying the agencies like ED to destroy it on the eve of the elections. This is an open violation of the model code of conduct. The central agencies are expected to conform to the enforcement of the model code of conduct of elections. But they have blatantly violated it,” he said.
Vijayaraghavan evaded questions on reports that the CPM district committee has finalized the list of candidates in the various assembly segments in Thrissur.