THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday reiterated his corruption charges against the LDF government and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the e-mobility project. Had former chief secretary Tom Jose and the finance secretary not objected, Switzerland-based bus manufacturing company HESS AG would have walked away with 51 per cent stake in the joint venture planned with Kerala Automobiles Ltd (KAL) for executing the project, he said.
A day after Pinarayi snubbed Chennithala at his media briefing, the latter presented a slew of documents which allegedly showed the chief minister’s role in awarding the consultancy contract of the project to London-based PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). “Pinarayi is duping the public by saying that Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had not banned PwC for two years. By doing that, the chief minister has turned out to be the spokesperson of the MNC,” he alleged.
“The LDF government’s ploy was to set up a joint venture between KAL and HESS, which was objected to by the former chief secretary and the finance secretary,” said Chennithala.In a veiled attack on Pinarayi over his alleged involvement in the SNC-Lavalin corruption, Chennithala said the people know the chief minister’s tradition of how a consultancy firm was allowed to bag a contract.