The Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] appeared to scramble on Saturday to grapple with the news that the Customs (Preventive) in Kochi had summoned Vinodini Balakrishnan, wife of Polit Bureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, for questioning.
The agency was purportedly investigating her on the charge of accepting an expensive cell phone as a “gift” from the UAE gold smuggling case accused and COFEPOSA detainee Swapna Suresh.
Officials said the phone was among the six devices given as a part of a massive kickback to Swapna allegedly by Santosh Eapen, owner of Unitac Ventures, for wangling the UAE-Red Crescent contract to build 40 apartments for the homeless in Thrissur under the auspices of the State government’s Life Mission project.
Ms. Vinodini said she was not in receipt of any Customs summons. Swapna was a stranger to her. Mr. Eapen has also denied any link with the Kodiyeris.
The Customs is investigating Mr. Eapen on the charge of foreign currency smuggling. The CBI had registered a case against him for “colluding” with Life Mission officials and UAE consulate staff to illegally divert foreign contributions to build homes for those displaced by the 2019 floods in Kerala.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said Mr. Balakrishnan owed him an apology. In October last, Mr. Balakrishnan, who was the then CPI(M) State secretary, had accused Mr. Chennithala of accepting a costly phone from Swapna. “Now the Customs had traced the bribe from his wife,” Mr. Chennithala said. Union Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said the episode revealed the rot in higher echelons of the CPI(M).
Meanwhile, the LDF’s run-in with the Customs continued on Saturday. LDF workers staged protests in front of Customs offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby said the Customs had arm-twisted Swapna into deposing against the government. It had threatened to make her daughter an accused in the gold smuggling case.
He condemned the Customs plan to implicate Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, three of his Cabinet colleagues and Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan in foreign currency smuggling cases with an eye to discredit the government ahead of the Assembly polls.
Customs Commissioner (Preventive) Sumit Kumar dared the CPI(M) to derail the probe. “A political party is trying intimidation. It will not work,” Mr. Kumar said in an FB post. He had also uploaded the LDF’s posters condemning the Customs action.
