THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Terming the alleged graft in connection with the allocation of brewery licences by the previous LDF government as one of the biggest scams that the state has seen, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said the court has thwarted attempts by the Pinarayi Vijayan government to cover up the scandal.
Chennithala was speaking to reporters at the KPCC headquarters here a day after an anti-corruption court refused to turn down the Vigilance department’s plea to close the brewery corruption case in which Chennithala is the petitioner. He said the court direction has dealt a severe blow to the state government and added that his legal battle will continue.
The Congress leader had alleged that the then LDF government had given clearance for three breweries and a distillery in the state. He said the Industries Department had given permission to start a distillery to an unknown company. The then Industries Minister E P Jayarajan has been listed as a witness in the case but he avoided appearing before the court citing the Thrikkakara bypoll, he said.
Chennithala said his charges of corruption in brewery allocation and the alleged sale of personal data to US company Sprinlkr were being proven correct with new revelations recently emerging in both cases. On the Sprinklr episode, Chennithala said the government should give compensation to those affected by the alleged sale of personal data and the amount should be recovered from the then IT secretary M Sivasankar and the chief minister.
Chennithala wondered why Pinarayi was not filing a defamation case against gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh after she made serious allegations linking the IT firm run by the chief minister’s daughter with the Sprinklr episode. He also urged the government to order a CBI probe based on allegations by Swapna.