Kerala’s infamous bar bribery scam, which had led to the resignation of two ministers, though one withdrew his resignation later, has hit two more Ministers. Biju Ramesh, whistleblower in the scam, has charged Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and his loyalist, Health Minister VS Sivakumar, both belonging to the Congress, of taking money from bar owners.
According to Biju, himself a bar owner, Chennithala had taken Rs 2 crore when he was State Congress president three years back and Sivakumar had taken Rs 25 lakh. While Chennithala himself had received the money from bar owners Sivakumar had received it through Vasu, an aide of his. He said. Both the Ministers rejected the allegation.
Though Biju had given indications about this in March last year, neither he nor any other bar owner had taken this up when allegations of bribery were raging against KM Mani of the Kerala Congress (M), who resigned as Finance minister last November, and K Babu, who resigned as Excise Minister on January 23 only to withdraw it a week later.
With this, the two opposing camps in the State Congress, the ‘A’ group headed by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the ‘I’ group led by Chennithala, have been hit by the bar bribery scam. When bar owners had leveled charges against Babu, Chandy’s confidant, the ‘I’ group had used it in its intra-party battle to corner Chandy’s camp.
Biju told the media that the office-bearers of the Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association, of which he was the working president, had given `2 crore to Chennithala at the State Congress headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram. The Congress party had responded positively to this by ensuring that the bar licence fees were not hiked for two years.
The money, Rs 25 lakh, was paid to Sivakumar, through his personal staff member Vasu before the bypoll in Neyyattinkara Assembly seat in 2012, Biju said adding that neither he nor Chennithala had given any kind of receipt for the money. He said money was given to Sivakumar as per instructions from Excise Minister Babu.
Terming the allegation as baseless, Chennithala said the PCC never took money from anyone without giving receipt and its accounts were bring properly audited every year. Sivakumar also rejected the charge saying that there was no need for bar owners to pay him because he as Health Minister had nothing to do with the liquor scene of the State.
He also said that an explanation regarding this had already been given in the Assembly. State Congress president VM Sudheeran said that an inquiry would be held over the allegation but it was up to Chennithala and Sivakumar to reply to it.
Biju himself had charged Mani and Babu with taking bribes of Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore respectively from bar owners. Mani, who had demanded Rs 5 crore as bribe, had promised to help the bar owners to get the licences renewed for their closed bars while Babu had taken the money for not hiking bar licence fees, according to Biju.