THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: MLA KT Jaleel on Thursday denied the allegations by gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh that he tried to get a Malayalam daily banned in the Gulf “I was only verifying the facts of a news report. The party or the government was not in the loop about the email I sent to the UAE consul-general about the report,” he said. He also said he had not tried to strike any business deal with the UAE consul-general. “I don’t have any business or business partnership either in the Gulf or in Kerala. Barring a short period, I have not been part of any deal,” he said.
Jaleel said when the Madhyamam report carrying the photographs of NRIs who died due to Covid in the Gulf was published, he had sent a message on WhatsApp to Swapna, then PA of the consul-general, about it.
“An email was also sent from my personal ID with the name Abdul Jaleel to the diplomat’s official ID, with a copy of the report. I didn’t ask him to ban the daily. I just tried to bring the matter to his attention,” he said. Jaleel clarified that he had not discussed any political matter with Swapna.
“Let her prove that I said I could make political gains by getting the daily banned. NIA has already verified my chats. If there’s a protocol issue, let her point it out. Even if there is any violation, they can’t hang me for it,” he said.