Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State unit president K. Surendran has accused the Assembly of overreaching its authority to summon officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and questioning the investigation carried out by the agency.
Talking to media persons in Aranmula on Sunday, Mr. Surendran accused Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan of misusing the Assembly to protect the smugglers for serving some vested interests. “The speaker used to have a very close relationship with Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the gold smuggling case and details of their phone conversations have leaked out in the public domain several times. His attempt to misuse the Assembly for vested interests will only help weaken democracy,” Mr. Surendran said.
According to him, none of the national investigation agencies have challenged the authority of the Assembly.
He launched a scathing attack on the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leaders for defending Manjeswaram MLA M.C. Kamaruddin in the Fashion Gold Jewellery investment scam and called for his immediate resignation as MLA.
“Mr. Kamaruddin had earned several crores of rupees through fraud and purchased assets using this money through benami transactions. Although delayed, his arrest was prompted by strong opposition from the public as well as the rank and file of the IUML. The league leaders tried to protect him to the maximum possible extend since they were also involved in the scam,” Mr. Surendran said.
