Following the leak of a voice message by Swapna Suresh, one of the kingpins in the gold smuggling scam and LIFE Mission kickbacks that she was under pressure from investigation agencies to name Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan as a beneficiary of the scams, the CPI(M) in Kerala has launched a multi-pronged attack against the Centre on Thursday.
“The Centre, shocked over the progress made by the LDF Government in implementing people’s welfare measures, is making use of various Central investigation agencies to target the popular Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and to subvert the development works carried out by the State Government. The investigating agencies are acting as the hand maidens of the Congress and the BJP,” said a Statement released by the CPI(M) to the media on
Thursday.
The immediate provocation behind the volte-face by the Marxists is the reported voice message allegedly belonging to Swapna Suresh in which the woman charged that she was being pressurized by the investigating agencies to name the chief minister as the beneficiary in all the scams so that she could escape from all charges as an approver.
Rishiraj Singh, the director general of police (prisons) asked the State Police Chief Lok Nath Behra, to order a thorough probe into the voice message and how it reached a news portal. The Inspector General of Prisons held a preliminary enquiry by inspecting the jail where Swapna is undergoing judicial custody.
She also charged that the investigating agencies viz NIA, ED and Customs which had interrogated her in various cases never showed her or read out to her the copies of the statements they submitted to the court.
It was Chief Minister Vijayan’s letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in early July that resulted in the investigation into the gold smuggling scam and other cases were handed over to central agencies. Vijayan had said that since gold smuggling was a pan India affair with global ramifications, it would be better if the central agencies investigate the cases. But it led to the opening of a pandora’s box as many bigwigs with close links to the CPI(M) and the chief minister got arrested in the process.
Meanwhile, Thomas Issac, finance minister, said that the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Report on Kerala Infrastructure Investment Board Fund (KIIBF) was politically motivated and it’s mission was to derail the development activities in the State.
“The KIIBF was set up as part of the legislation enacted by the State Government and there is nothing unconstitutional in it. The CAG report has created a strange situation requiring strange solution,” said Issac while speaking to reporters at Thiruvananthapuram.