THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government and Opposition on Monday traded charges against each other in the Assembly over the Kodakara hawala heist case. The Opposition alleged that a deal was executed by the government with the BJP to bail it out from the case involving gold smuggling through the diplomatic channel and save its skin in the Bengaluru drugs case, without directly naming Bineesh Kodiyeri.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan shot back stating that BJP leaders were listed as witnesses in the charge-sheet of the hawala case as they were aware of the case and witnesses can be arraigned as accused anytime when the investigation in the case proceeds further. The Opposition and government locked horns when Roji M John of the Congress moved an adjournment motion demanding a discussion over the Kodakara case as the case witnessed, according to him, 'Pinarayi magic' when the charge-sheet was filed in the court.
"When the charge-sheet was submitted by the state police, all the BJP leaders who were initially accused in the case were now listed as witnesses. The Opposition wondered how the BJP leaders who were to be listed as accused in the case became witnesses," said Roji.
"This is nothing short of a deal executed by the CPM with BJP," said V D Satheeshan. "The central enforcement agencies which had been investigating smuggling cases suddenly lost interest in the case. All these developments indicate that there has been a clear quid-pro-quo deal,” he said. Replying to the allegation, the Chief Minister said the Congress had lost face when the people of Kerala had snubbed the party in the elections. Since then it had been trying to level charges against the CPM linking it with the BJP.
The Congress which approached the central agency seeking investigation in the LIFE Mission scam is not ready to approach the central agencies this time. In fact, the state police handed over the case details to the Enforcement Directorate, Income Tax and Chief Electoral Officer and it is up to them to decide whether they would hold a probe into the case, he said.
The hawala money was brought here for the electioneering of the BJP, he said. Police have recorded the statement of 206 people including BJP state president K Surendran. So far, 21 accused in the case were arrested apart from seizing Rs 1.46 crore out of the Rs 3.5 crore robbed. Later the Opposition staged a walkout when the Speaker denied leave for the adjournment motion.