CM refuses to entertain Opposition demand for CBI probe into gold smuggling scandal

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday rejected the Opposition demand for a High Court- supervised CBI enquiry into the gold smuggling scandal. "It is not the responsibility of the State to request an investigation by any particular central agency. It is the centre's prerogative. If any of the investigating agencies feel the issues involved are beyond their jurisdiction, it is up to them to seek a change," the Chief Minister said in reply to a Submission moved by Opposition Leader V D Satheesan in the Assembly.

The Chief Minister further said that the CBI, like all other central agencies, was a highly misused agency right from the time of the Congress-led UPA. "This is an agency that is used to implement the political agenda of the party in power," the Chief Minister said.

To this, the Opposition Leader said: "But you did not seem to have such an opinion when you sought a CBI probe against former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on the basis of a complaint filed by the solar scam accused."

Satheesan's demand for a CBI probe into the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic route came in the wake of the Enforcement Directorate's request before the High Court on July 20 to shift the case to Bangalore. The ED, while giving reasons for its request, said there were attempts to influence and threaten the first three accused in the case. It also said that there was pressure on the accused to keep quiet about the role of highly influential people. There was also pressure on the accused to withdraw their statements, the ED had said.

Satheesan, however, presented the issue like he was trying to insulate the government from the evil designs of the ED. "We don't believe in the ED. It is just an instrument in the hands of the Modi dispensation to hunt down political rivals. We strongly suspect that the ED wants to scuttle the case. We should counter the ED's political designs," Satheesan told the Chief Minister.

The gloved boxing hand that he had couched in his seemingly brotherly tone was soon revealed. "We should prove that the ED's allegations are false and prevent them from sabotaging the gold smuggling case. And for this we have to seek a CBI probe but under the supervision of the High Court," Satheesan said.

The Chief Minister, himself a master of sarcasm, said he was grateful that the Opposition Leader had changed his opinion about central agencies, had deviated from his original position. He said it perhaps had got to do with the ED's questioning of Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday.

Satheesan responded that the Congress had consistently, right from the moment Swapna Suresh made her revelations, called for a CBI probe under the supervision of the CBI. "The ED has been formed exclusively for economic offences. The gold smuggling scandal has ramifications that go far beyond the jurisdiction of the ED. We cannot ask the Crime Branch and the Vigilance in Kerala to conduct the probe either," he said. "But it is because we are fully aware that central agencies like the CBI are mere instruments in the hands of the BJP government, we have asked for the High Court's monitoring," Satheesan said.

The Chief Minister also refuted the ED's allegations saying that his government had never intervened in the investigation of the central agencies. "The case falls under the purview of the Centre and the state cannot intervene. These are just fake stories put out to discredit the government," Vijayan said.