THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the alleged links of law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, appointed by the state government as the legal consultant to assist it to participate in the bidding for the Trivandrum International Airport, with the Adani Group came to light, the state government and CPM swung into damage-control action.
EP Jayarajan, Minister of Industries, under whom the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (KSIDC), which participated in the bidding on behalf of the state government, comes, on Sunday said the state government was not aware of the law firm’s links with the Adani Group which won the bid for the airport.
The law firm had hidden its Adani links and the state government was not responsible for it. They should have informed the state government or KSIDC when they came to know that Adani Group was in the race for the airport, he said.
The state government approached the law firm as a gentleman legal consultancy and the state government was not aware of the fact that the firm was owned by Cyril Shroff, father-in-law of Gautam Adani’s son Karan, he said. It was up to the legal firm to apprise the client of its links which could be a conflict of interest, he added.
On the other hand, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan explained that the law firm should have recused itself from the work considering its links with the Adani Group. He also reiterated that the state government contacted the firm unaware of its links with Adani.
He also added that the law firm had no links with the institution which prepared the bid for the state government. The opposition is raising the issue for helping Adani and the Congress has a double face on this issue, he said.