The Kerala assembly was disrupted for the second consecutive day on Tuesday after the opposition Congress read out a remand report of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Life Mission case that contained certain allegations against chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The Life Mission project is a flagship housing project of the ruling Left government and ED is probing alleged violation of the Foreign Contribution (Regulations) Act (FCRA) and Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Vijayan’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar was arrested by the federal agency on February 15 and is currently in judicial custody in connection with the case. The CM’s additional private secretary C M Raveendran was also summoned on Monday but he did not appear before the agency, citing the ongoing assembly session.
In the assembly on Tuesday, members of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) protested after Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan read out the remand report of Sivasankar and statement of main accused in the Life Mission case, Swapna Suresh (also an accused in the gold smuggling case).
The statement that made certain allegations against the chief minister was read out by Kuzhalnadan but was later expunged by speaker A N Shamseer, even as Vijayan dismissed them.
As an argument between the chief minister and Kuzhalnadan erupted over the statement, members of the ruling CPI(M) left their seats and created an uproar in the House by trying to shout down the Congress legislator. Later, law minister P Rajeev intervened and said it was not proper for the House to discuss an ongoing case and asked the Congress member to table his findings in the House.
While Kuzhalnadan agreed, the argument between the treasury and opposition members continued.
The Congress member also quoted some purported leaked WhatsApp chats of Suresh, Sivasankar and Raveendran. The uproar and shouting from both ruling and opposition members continued, prompting the speaker to briefly adjourn the House.
After the House resumed two hours later, the ruling party members urged the speaker to expunge portions of Kuzhalnadan’s speech. The speaker ruled that a document placed in court cannot be quoted in the House and expunged the statements.
State minister M B Rajesh later took a swipe at the Congress, saying for the party’s central leadership, central agencies are instruments to hound the Opposition but in Kerala, they are “treated as holy cows”.
Besides the Life Mission and gold smuggling cases, the police action on Youth Congress workers who were recently protesting against a proposed ₹2 cess on petrol led to exchanges in the House.
In the Life Mission case, ED said that following the 2018 state floods, ₹18.50 crore was accepted from international aid agency Red Crescent by Suresh and her aides to build houses for the affected in Wadakkanchery in Thrissur district.
The contract to build these houses was allotted to Unitac Builders. The central agency alleged that some middlemen, officials and employees of the UAE consulate in the state capital received ₹4 crore as commission for clinching the project. The grant was accepted without permission of the Union government.
Alleged FCRA and PMLA violations in the Life Mission project surfaced while the central agencies were probing the 2020 gold smuggling case. ED alleged Suresh acted like a mediator to clinch the deal with the international aid agency.
The gold smuggling case surfaced on July 5, 2020 after Customs officials at Thiruvananthapuram airport seized a diplomatic bag addressed to the United Arab Emirates consulate following a tip-off that it was being used to smuggle gold. The bag arrived on a chartered flight from the UAE and contained 30kg of gold. The National Investigation Agency, ED, Central Bureau of Investigation and Customs department are probing the case.