In an embarrassment to Kerala’s CPI(M)-led lDF Government, which has seen the resignation of three ministers during its 19-month rule, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has started a probe against Marxist Health Minister KK Shailaja over the allegation that she had availed medical benefits that she did not deserve through reimbursement using forged bills.
The agency began the preliminary investigation on the basis of a complaint from State BJP general secretary K Surendran. The inquiry, being carried out by the Special Unit 1 of Vigilance in Thiruvananthapuram, is to find out whether there is substance in the allegations against Shailaja. The Minister rejected the charges but welcomed the probe.
Shailaja is facing the allegation of violating the Members of Kerala legislative Assembly (Medical Facilities) Rules with regard to claiming reimbursement of expenses of medical treatment by members by entering into criminal conspiracy to forge documents for cheating the Exchequer of `3,81,876.
The Minister is accused of getting reimbursement of expenses amounting to over `50,000 for the treatment of her husband K Bhaskaran, former chairman of the Mattannur Municipality in her home district Kannur. Also, she had allegedly availed reimbursement of more than Rs 28,000 for the purchase of her spectacles.
The issue has embarrassed not just the Minister but also the Government and the CPI(M) and it has become a subject of hot discussion within the party. Reports said that delegates had brought up the issue at the ongoing district conference of the CPI(M) in Kollam on Saturday in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who alsohails from Shailaja’s home district.
Another allegation against Shailaja is that she had in the affidavit she submitted to the Government for reimbursement described her husband as a dependent as he was unemployed in spite of the fact that Bhaskaran at that time was the chairman of Mattannur Municipality. Also, he is drawing pension as a retired school headmaster.
As per the allegedly forged bills, the daily rent of the private hospital room in which the Minister and her family had stayed during treatments was said to be `7,150. It is also alleged that the bills the Minister had submitted to the Government were in the name of a private hospital in Thalassery, Kannur but Thalassery does not have a hospital in that name.
Shailaja has rejected the charges against her saying that she had done nothing wrong and had claimed only what she was eligible for as Minister and that there had not been violation of any rules from her side. She said Ministers were entitled for reimbursement of medical expenses of their families.
“I have done nothing wrong. The probe, as far as I know, is based on a complaint submitted to the Vigilance Director. let them carry out the probe and let the truth come out. Ministers are entitled to get reimbursement of the expenses of their medical treatment and that of their spouses,” she said in Malappuram on Saturday.
If the Vigilance concludes that there is substance in the allegations against Shailaja, it would be a big blow to the lDF Government and the CPI(M). Kerala had seen the resignation of another CPI(M) central committee member from Kannur, EP Jayarajan, as Industries Minister in November 2016 over the charge of nepotism.