Kerala’s CPI(M) MlA V Sivankutty on Wednesday filed a petition in the Special Vigilance Court in Thiruvananthapuram seeking a Vigilance probe against State Finance Minister KM Mani over the allegation that he had taken crores of rupees as bribe through ‘Budget sales’ even as the Vigilance told the court that it would submit the chargesheet within two months in the infamous bar bribery case in which Mani was the first accused. .
In the petition filed through leading High Court lawyer CP Udayabhanu, Sivankutty alleged that Mani, the senior-most member of Kerala’s Congress-led UDF Cabinet, had taken Rs27 crore as bribe from bakers, jewelers, quarry and crusher owners and poultry dealers promising tax relaxations in the State Budget. The court will take up the petition on April 4.
The petition has sought orders for a comprehensive investigation into the amassment of wealth by Mani over the years. To substantiate his point, Sivankutty has attached to the petition copies of the affidavits Mani had submitted to the Election Commission along with nominations in the elections from 1965 to 2011.
“There has been a steady and disproportionate growth in Mani’s wealth,” lawyer Udayabhanu said. For example, in the affidavit filed during the 2006 election, Mani had said that he had a bank balance of Rs75,000 and had possessed an Ambassador car but the affidavit of 2011 showed that he had Rs2.65 crores and a Mitsubishi and Toyota cars, Sivankutty said.
The Marxist MlA said that Mani’s children and their spouses were immensely rich and their assets also should be examined. He said that he decided to approach the court as the complaints he lodged with other authorities like the police had met with no response. Sivankutty added that he had raised the charge even in the Assembly.
For Mani, who is already facing the serious charge of taking several crores of rupees as bribe from bar owners by promising to help them to get the licenses of their closed bars renewed, the fresh charge and the case pertaining to it will prove to be a huge embarrassment especially as he is preparing to present the 2015-16 State Budget on March 13.
The CPI(M)-led Opposition has warned Mani, also chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), third biggest constituent of the ruling UDF, that he would suffer unpredictable humiliations if he tried to present the Budget in the Assembly when he was facing the charge of “selling” Budget proposals.
Meanwhile, the Vigilance, which is investigating the bar-bribe charge against Mani, told the court that it would submit the chargesheet in the case within two months and that there was no need for a court-monitored probe in the matter as the current inquiry was progressing on the right tracks.
The Government counsel also told the court that the investigation was in the initial stages and the process of recording statements was continuing. The Vigilance had to record statements of about 400 bar owners and only 27 of them had been interviewed so far. The Vigilance’s response came on a petition filed by bar owner Biju Ramesh, who had leveled the bribery charge against Mani.
Biju Ramesh, working president of the Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association, had stunned entire Kerala on October 31 last by ‘disclosing’ that Mani had asked the bar owners for a bribe of Rs5 crore to help them in getting licenses of their closed bars renewed and had taken Rs1 crore of it. He had also produced voice records to prove his allegation.
The Government, on the basis of a letter from Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan, ordered a 42-day quick verification (QV) of the charge by the Vigilance. After the QV, the Vigilance registered an FIR naming Mani as first accused. This was the first time a serving Minister had become an accused in a case of bribery in the State.