Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Bond issue: KPCC seeks CBI probe

Special Correspondent

Investigate party’s links with lottery dealer, says Chennithala

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s alleged links with a lottery dealer who reportedly invested Rs. 2 crore in bonds of the party’s organ Deshabhimani.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Chennithala said CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat, who had been campaigning for probity in politics, should take the initiative to write to the Union Government seeking a CBI probe.

He said Deshabhimani’s bond issue had violated the five-point guideline announced at the 18th party congress on accepting donations and mobilisation of funds. The CPI(M), being the ruling party, was misusing is clout to mobili se funds even from persons with dubious connections. He alleged that the party leadership was trying to cover up blatant acts of corruption by announcing expulsion and disciplinary action in place of recommending criminal action.

Mr. Chennithala said it was not known which company ran Deshabhimani. According to his information, it was run by the Krishna Pillai Trust in Thiruvananthapuram and the Chinta Publication in Kochi. But as per the records of the Regi strar of Companies, Deshabhimani Publications was the publisher of the party organ but had not filed its returns and submitted its balance sheet since 2005. This was a violation of the existing laws. He wanted to know whether the different companies under which the party organ was being published were intended as a conduit for tainted money or for denying service benefits to the large number of employees.

He said the corruption allegations against ousted Deshabhimani deputy general manager Venugopal could not be taken lightly. There were big sharks behind him. The people of Kerala had a right to know the financial dealings of a party like the CPI(M). The KPCC feels that the current expose relating to the bonds and the LIS deals is just the tip of the iceberg of huge financial wheeling dealing.

He did not subscribe to the view that Mr. Venugopal would have indulged in a corrupt act without the knowledge of the party leaders.

He said the underhand dealings of the CPI(M) were now coming out one by one, thanks to the schism in the party. The CPI(M) was trying to intimidate the media for having come out with such expose. Its youth wing, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), had launched a campaign against private financiers to cover up the party’s deals.

Mr. Chennithala wondered why Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who had run a persistent campaign against tax evasion by lottery dealers, was silent on the issue. In reply to a question, the KPCC president said the Deshabhimani bond case had similarities with the SNC Lavalin case.

It represented a new trend usually seen in North India, a trend that combined muscle power and money power in politics, Mr. Chennithala said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Call to preserve sacred groves
Bond issue: KPCC seeks CBI probe
Banks to allow defaulters’ wards to take education loan
CPI(M) secretariat to examine facts
New railway timetable comes into effect from today
Waste management facilities lacking in State
BSNL to launch new SMS service
Departments told to expedite road repair, cleaning of drains
Thiruvanthapuram Today
Show-cause notices served on self-financing colleges
Club locks horns with Corporation
Trains rescheduled
Man run over by train

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu