The multicrore rupee fraud case in Dubai involving Binoy Vinodini Balakrishnan, elder son of CPI(M)’s Kerala State secretary and Politbureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, has further worsened the already strained relations between the party’s Kerala and West Bengal units.
According to top CPI(M) sources, the CPI(M)’s West Bengal unit, which has been antagonistic towards its Kerala counterpart ever since the proposal for electoral understanding with the Congress was shot down by the Central leadership faction which draws its strength from the ‘Kerala lobby’, is determined to use the Binoy fraud issue as a weapon against it.
The fact that a son of none other than the chief of the country’s strongest State unit of the party had been involved in a case of such huge financial fraud on foreign land had tarnished the party’s image and brought shame to it in the national level, the West Bengal State committee of the CPI(M) reportedly observed at its meeting held on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It has also demanded issuance of a statement by the Politbureau on the issue in order to make the party’s position clear because Kerala’s State leadership has not so far been able to provide a convincing explanation. It is said that the West Bengal State committee has decided to put forward this demand to the central leadership in writing.
The position adopted by the West Bengal unit is a big setback as far as the Kerala leadership is concerned as it had taken a position that Binoy’s fraud case pertains to a deal between two individuals in which the party had nothing to do with the hope that such a position would help it to bury the controversy within the Kerala party itself.
The meeting of the West Bengal State committee, in which the issue was raised by two senior members, also blasted the Kerala leadership over the severe criticisms leveled by delegates at the Thiruvananthapuram district conference of the party held last week against general secretary Sitaram Yechuri in the name of his approach towards the fraud case. While senior leaders loyal to the ‘Kerala lobby’ like Politbureau member S Ramachandran Pillai had tried to create an impression that the party had not received any complaint with regard to the Rs 13-crore fraud allegedly committed by Binoy Kodiyeri, Yechuri had confirmed the receipt of a representation from a UAE citizen, Hasan Ismaeel Abdulla Almarzooqi, a businessman.
Immediately after the controversy erupted, the party’s Kerala State secretariat had issued a statement exonerating Binoy totally, claiming that the issue did not warrant its intervention as the allegation was not against any leader and terming the reports about the fraud case as fake news propagated as part of a plot against the CPI(M).
Observing that the CPI(M) is going through one of the worst periods in its entire history and even the central leadership is now a divided house, a former Kerala State committee member said, “I am certain that the opponents of (former party chief) Prakash Karat and his group are sure to bring up the issue in the 22nd party congress to be held in April.”
According to Almarzooqi, Binoy had duped his company, Dubai-based JAAS Tourism llC, of a total of over AED 4.5 million by not repaying loans he had availed through it. He said in the complaint that Binoy’s total liabilities to his company had now grown to AED 7 million (Rs 13 crore) with interest and legal charges.
Binoy is presently trapped in Dubai as a court there has imposed a travel ban on him in a case based on a petition filed by Almarzooqi in connection with a cheque for AED I million (Rs 1.72 crore) which he had given to the UAE businessman and had got bounced in the bank. As per reports, high-level efforts are already on to settle the case out of court.