In a big embarrassment for the CPI(M) and its senior Politbureau member and Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, a Dubai court has imposed a travel ban on his son Binoy Vinodini Balakrishnan in a cheating case filed by a UAE-based company, JAAS Tourism llC, which had accused him of cheating it of AED 7 million (Rs 13 crore).
“We order to ban the debtor (Binoy) from travel and (to) deposit his passport in the court’s safe (custody), read a translation of the ban order issued by the Dubai court on February 1. Binoy is presently in Dubai and the ban means that he will remain trapped in the UAE city till the lifting of the restriction.
Bineesh Kodiyeri, Binoy’s younger brother, confirmed the travel ban on his brother in Dubai but claimed that the dispute was over alleged non-repayment of AED 1 million (Rs 1.72 crore) to the company and not AED 7 million as was being made out. “The allegations about the (Rs 13-crore debt are part of a malicious campaign against us,” said Bineesh.
Reports from Dubai said that Binoy was intercepted at the Dubai airport on Monday when he reached there to board a flight for Kerala and his passport was confiscated. However, sources close to the Kodiyeri family claimed that no such incident had taken place. “Binoy is still a free man. The only thing is that he cannot travel out of UAE for the time being,” said a source.
The Dubai court’s order said the travel ban “shall be repealed in case of depositing the amount (1000,000 dirhams) for which the travel ban has been issued (or) providing a bank bail with the aforementioned amount.” The civil case in the Dubai court pertains to a bank cheque for AED 1000,000 Binoy had given to JAAS as security for a loan he had taken a few years back.
“Binoy can file an appeal in a week’s time. He will file the appeal. let us see what happens after that. let him be in Dubai for the time being. There is no urgency for him to be back here,” said Bineesh, adding that the allegations against his brother were part of a malicious campaign against his father and the CPI(M), particularly at the time of the party’s conference process.
The controversy over Binoy’s debts had erupted a few days ago after JAAS’s sponsor Hasan Ismaeel Abdulla Almarzooqi, a UAE citizen, had allegedly lodged a complaint with the central leadership of the CPI(M) saying that Kodiyeri’s son had cheated his company by not repaying loans aggregating over AED 4.5 million he had taken through its account in Dubai.
According to the complaint, the loans were to be repaid in 2016 and Binoy’s total debt had now grown to AED 7 million including interest and legal charges. The complaint also said that there were cases pending against Binoy in Dubai and his company had been advised to examine the option of approaching the Interpol to get Binoy to Dubai.
However, Binoy and his father claimed that there were no cases pending against him in UAE and that the dispute with JAAS pertained purely to business and it was to be settled by the individual. Binoy said there was a case against him in Dubai with regard to the dispute but he had settled it by paying AED 60,000.
However, the new development has pushed the CPI(M) and Kodiyeri further into the defensive. The CPI(M) had even gone to the extent of issuing a statement from its State secretariat claiming that there was no case against Binoy in India and that he himself had explained that no case was pending against him in UAE.
“That CPI(M) statement was entirely unwarranted,” said a former CPI(M) theorist. “The party could have washed its hands off the matter with its initial stand that the issue had nothing to do with it. As it has become evident that there is a case pending against Binoy in Dubai, the party’s defence has now been shattered,” he added.
Meanwhile, Almarzooqi cancelled a Press conference had had planned to hold over the issue at the Press Club at Thiruvananthapuram on Monday evening following an injunction issued on Saturday by a court in Karunagappally, Kollam with regard to any discussion or publication of any news relating to another cheating case involving the son of an lDF MlA.