Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan could not absolve himself of the "treasonous" crime of smuggling gold into the country in air cargo consignments addressed to the consulate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) here.
The statement of the first accused in the case was a damning indictment of the role of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) in the scam. The crime had profound implications for the country's economy and also its national security.
The accused had reportedly told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) that former Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister M. Sivasankar had used the heft of the CMO to abet the smuggling, a part of the proceeds of which went to financing terrorism.
The Chief Minister's IT fellow, who had affixed a "Government of Kerala" emblem on the number plate of his private car, had a role in the crime. Central agencies should question Mr. Vijayan. The CMO had helped the smugglers. Mr. Vijayan was responsible for the crime vicariously.
Mr. Vijayan projected the image of an authoritarian Chief Minister who had his party and the government under his thump. In reality, he had no clue of what transpired under his nose or was complicit in the wrongdoings of Mr. Sivasankar.
CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had obliquely criticised Mr. Vijayan for having failed to understand the "craftiness" of the person (Sivasankar). For four years, Mr. Sivasankar had opened the door of the CMO for profit-seeking smugglers, anti-nationals, foreign firms and global consultancies.
The Secretary, Transport, played second fiddle to the CMO by suggesting that the foreign consultancy be allowed an office in the Secretariat on the ground the employees there were not up to their tasks.
Mr. Sivasankar had appointed the permanent employee of a foreign consulate, the second accused in the gold smuggling case, in the Space Park, on the merit of a fake certificate. Her posting at ₹1.5 lakh salary a month was an affront to the lakhs of unemployed youth in the State.
