Kerala’s infamous bar bribe scam worsened on Monday pushing the Congress-led UDF Government into deeper crisis over it with audio records of telephone conversations coming out in the media suggesting that two top UDF leaders had endorsed the charge that Finance and law Minister KM Mani had taken Rs1-crore as bribe from bar owners.
While the endorsement of the charge against Mani by Government Chief Whip PC George was indirect, UDF’s founder leader R Balakrishna Pillai, chairman of the Kerala Congress (B), directly accused the Minister of taking bribe not only from bar owners but also from gold merchants and rice mill owners, as per the voice records released by bar owner Biju Ramesh.
However, Congress Chief Minister Oommen Chandy described the conversations contained in the tapes and the release of the audio records at this juncture as part of a bid to destabilise his Government. “But they won’t succeed in their plan because this Government’s strength is the support of the people,” Chandy said. Pillai’s party is a constituent of the ruling UDF.
Biju Ramesh, working president of the Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association, released the records of telephone conversations between him and the two leaders amidst an ongoing probe into the bar bribe scam pertaining to his allegation that Mani had taken Rs1 crore from the bar owners to help them get licences renewed for the 418 bars closed on March 31 last year.
As per the tapes, George, vice-chairman of the Kerala Congress (M) of which Mani is the chairman, had expressed his desire to meet Biju. George told Biju that he would not speak foul about Mani through the media as he was a KC(M) leader but that was immaterial. He agreed with a laugh with Biju’s statement that the allegation he raised was absolutely true.
George had the other day denied having spoken to Biju at any point of time. However, after the audio record was released, George admitted speaking to the bar owner but claimed that he had only received the call, adding that he had spoken in order to protect Mani. At the same time, Pillai, a former Minister, confirmed talking to Biju Ramesh over the phone on November 1 last.
Apart from the Rs1 crore he had taken from bar owners, Mani had taken Rs19 crore as bribe from gold merchants and Rs2 crore from rice mill owners, Pillai, whom the Supreme Court had sentenced to one-year imprisonment for corruption in 2011, said. “I had brought the issue of Mani’s corruption to the notice of the Chief Minister at a meeting,” he claimed.
As per the tape, Pillai asked Biju to approach the court against Mani. “Since you have brought up the issue, you should not drop it,” he told Biju. He also promised Biju that he could talk with a senior lawyer for taking up his case against Mani. “You should demand a CBI probe saying that a probe against the law Minister by his own Government can’t be effective,” Pillai told Biju.
Chandy rejected Pillai’s claim that he had brought the issue of Mani’s corruption to his notice but the KC(B) leader persisted in his claim. “We have not talked to each other after Biju Ramesh made the allegations first (on October 31),” Chandy said. But Pillai countered the claim saying he had talked to Chandy before the allegation was first raised.
Biju Ramesh released the voice records on Monday amidst rumours that his colleagues in the bar owners’ association were not prepared to give evidences against Mani. He said that he would hand over on Tuesday the records of his colleagues’ statements about the money they had given to Mani as bribe to the Vigilance officials probing the bar scam.
The release of the tapes is sure to worsen the battle within the ruling UDF with the trust crisis touching new lows. The Opposition lDF has already stepped up its campaign against the Government over the scam. State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and his CPI counterpart Pannyan Raveendran demanded the resignation of Mani from the Cabinet.