As Kerala’s infamous bribe scam got murkier with the release of more evidences through the media, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan on Wednesday demanded the arrest of Finance and law Minister KM Mani, who was facing the charge of taking crores of rupees as bribe from bar owners, in order to facilitate a fair and impartial investigation into the scandal.
In a statement issued in Thiruvananthapuram, Achuthanandan also sought Mani’s ouster from the Cabinet. “That Mani is continuing as Minister even after so many evidences have come out proving that he had demanded and taken bribe is a challenge to the legal system and Constitution of the country,” he said.
Pointing out that R Balakrishna Pillai, founder leader of the Congress-led ruling UDF who had known the Finance Minister closely for more than the past 50 years, had stated that Mani had sold Budget proposals for money, Achuthanandan said, “This means that Mani had sold the people of Kerala for money.”
The people of Kerala would not allow such a Finance Minister to present another State Budget, the Opposition leader said. But Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said after a Cabinet meet, “Mani himself will present the next Budget. The Government has full trust in the Finance Minister.” Despite the protests against him, Mani had attended the Cabinet meeting.
Chandy also said that no action could be taken against Mani over the bar scam as no evidences for the allegations have come out so far. The Chief Minister’s announcement came within hours of Achuthanandan’s statement that Chandy’s policy was to protect the wrongdoers and penalise those who were bringing corruption to light.
Stepping up the pressure on Mani, State CPI secretary Pannyan Raveendran said in Kannur that the Opposition lDF would intensify its agitation over the bar scam. “Mani is falling from trap to trap,” Pannyan said even as his party colleague VS Sunilkumar MlA announced his decision to approach the High Court seeking a CBI probe against the Finance Minister.
At the same time, the State Cabinet decided to promote Additional DGP (Vigilance) Jacob Thomas, currently probing the bar bribery scam, as DGP triggered another controversy with allegations coming up that this was part of a plot to shift him into some other section of the police as his impartial investigation had been causing problems for the Government.
The allegation forced Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala to issue a statement saying that DGP Vincent M Paul was in charge of the Vigilance’s bar scam investigation – not Jacob Thomas – and that the Cabinet had only forwarded a recommendation of the screening committee that this officer and four other ADGPs could be promoted to the grade of DGP.
Meanwhile, Biju Ramesh, Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association’s working president who had first accused Mani of taking Rs1-crore as bribe from bar owners, handed over to the Vigilance officials probing the scandal the audio records of discussions by association office-bearers which clearly suggested that the Finance Minister had indeed taken several crores of rupees as bribe.