THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday interrogated former public works minister and senior Indian Union Muslim League leader V K Ebrahim Kunju in the money laundering case against him.
Ebrahim Kunju appeared at the ED office here around 11am and the questioning continued till the evening.
According to the case, Ebrahim Kunju allegedly deposited around Rs 10 crore in the bank account of a Malayalam daily in 2016.
He deposited money through two banks in Kochi after the demonetisation was announced. On a complaint filed by Kalamassery native Girish Babu, the Kerala High Court had ordered the ED to carry out a probe.
“Ebrahim Kunju has given some documents claiming that the deposited money was the subscription fees collected by the daily. We have to check these documents and he has to be quizzed again after examining the documents. We had collected evidence and recorded the statements of some witnesses and he was confronted with those during questioning,” an ED official said.
It is alleged that the amount deposited was given as commission by a construction company which was awarded the work of the controversial Palarivattom flyover in 2016.
The flyover is being reconstructed now following several construction defects that came to the notice subsequently. The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has also registered corruption cases against him.Ebrahim Kunju had approached the High Court against the ED investigation, but it dismissed his plea and asked the directorate to continue the probe.
The complainant, Girish Babu, had also alleged that Ebrahim Kunju offered him money to withdraw his complaint. However, Ebrahim Kunju said it was the complainant who had demanded money from him and he refused to pay it.