Pathanamthitta: PK Kunhalikutty, the National General Secretary of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), on Thursday demanded a comprehensive probe into the recent revelations by Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the 2020 gold smuggling case that rattled Kerala.
"The Kerala public needs to know if there is any truth in Swapna's statement that alleges that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family have a key role in gold smuggling," Kunhalikutty, who is also an MLA from Vengara, said.
Recently, Swapna had alleged the involvement of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, two of his family members, former minister KT Jaleel, former speaker P Sreeramakrishnan, former principal secretary to CM, M Sivasankar, and some top bureaucrats "in anti-national activities in UAE Consulate including gold smuggling".
She also alleged serious misuse of power when Chief Minister sought the assistance of Sharjah ruler, Sultan Bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, for his daughter Veena to begin an IT company in Sharjah.
Swapna alleged that the favour was sought during the Sharjah sovereign's visit to Kerala in September 2017.
It is alleged that the proposal was put forward during a closed-door interaction the Chief Minister had held with the Sharjah ruler at the Chief Minister's official residence, Cliff House.
Top IAS officers in the Chief Minister's office, Nalini Netto and M Sivasankar were also present during the occasion.
Swapna has alleged that the Chief Minister's wife, Kamala Vijayan, also had talked to the Sharjah ruler's wife about her daughter opening an IT company in Sharjah.
It is said that the Sharjah ruler was against the proposal, and therefore did not bear fruit.
Swapna also said that these charges were already revealed to the central investigating agencies in 2021 itself.
Swapna says that the proof of her charge that gold was smuggled into the Chief Minister's official residence in 'heavy' biriyani vessels from the UAE Consulate General's house was already with the National Investigating Agency (NIA).
She said the NIA was already in possession of her chats with Sivasankar related to the biriyani vessels.
CM's daughter in the crosshair
This is not the first time that the Chief Minister's daughter was drawn into political controversies.
In April 2020, right after the Sprinklr controversy erupted in the wake of the COVID outbreak, the late Congress MLA P T Thomas had alleged that Veena Vijayan's Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd. had links with the US-based Sprinklr. Thomas had alleged that Exalogic's website had gone down ever since the link was established.
Similar allegations of Pinarayi Vijayan's outreach for his daughter was made in 2011 by Marxist ideologue Berlin Kunhanandan.
Then Berlin was seen as a close associate of V S Achuthanandan but later, as recently as 2021, Berlin had expressed desire to apologise to Pinarayi.
In 2011, in an article he wrote for a leading vernacular, Berlin said that Pinarayi Vijayan had asked him to contact M Krishnan Nair, the founder of Leela hotels and a Kannur native, and arrange an engineering seat for his daughter Veena as she did not have the adequate marks to earn a seat in the merit quota.
Pinarayi lashes out
Following the latest revelations by gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that she was being used as part of a larger political conspiracy.
"This is part of a political agenda. Such agendas had been rejected by the people. Now, after a brief interval, an accused in the case has been used to repeat the very same charges against us. There is not a shred of truth in them," the Chief Minister said in an official statement.
"We who have taken the stand that there should be no compromise on finding the entire truth, from identifying the source of the economic offences that are wrecking the country's economy right down to every other offence related to the case, have been repeatedly subjected to such false accusations through the media," he said.
The Chief Minister hinted that Swapna was goaded by others to make these allegations.
He differentiated between those nudging the other to make such allegations and the person taking up the job of the mouthpiece, and said that both were part of a "mysterious scheme to tarnish individuals who have been with the people for years and who have pressed forward unwaveringly despite being buffeted by false charges."
"I am fully confident that our society itself would give a fitting reply to those who are trying to make gains by making such a person regurgitate old allegations," he said.
"This is just an attempt to malign the LDF government that was working for the comprehensive development and social welfare of Kerala," the Chief Minister added.
He reiterated that it was the LDF government that had first sought a coordinated and effective investigation into the gold smuggling just when it came to light.
Earlier, after giving a 164 statement in front of the Court, Swapna Suresh told the media that a bag with currency notes belonging to the Chief Minister was flown to Dubai at the instructions of M Sivasankar, then the Chief Minister's secretary. She also alleged that 'biriyani vessels' were used to regularly transfer gold from the UAE Consul General's residence to the Chief Minister's residence.
