Thiruvananthapuram: A day after the ruling Left Democratic Front announced launching of agitation against the central investigation agencies alleging vindictiveness and political motives, the damning disclosures made by Enforcement Directorate before a special court have the potential to further shame the CPM and the state government.
The ED report contains startling charges that the team once headed by Kerala bureaucrat M Sivasankar had used ambitious development projects to amass wealth. The ED allegation that even the team in chief minister's office was well aware of the gold smuggling carried out through diplomatic channel comes at a time when Pinarayi Vijayan's additional private secretary C M Raveendran is all set to be questioned by the investigating agencies.
Many believe this is a grave allegation questioning even the integrity of chief minister's office.
The ED report submitted before the court reportedly throws light on the likely shady deals behind the K-FON, e-Mobility, Tauras DownTown and Kochi SmartCity projects once spearheaded by Sivasankar. The agency has lately called for files on these projects from the state government.
Confidential reports stating that Sivasankar who was monitoring these four projects had virtually handed over his leadership role to Swapna have further shamed the government. The ED report cites the involvement of Swapna in these projects barring the one on e-mobility.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, meanwhile, claimed the same lobby had intervened in the projects in the education sector. Buttressing this an industrialist disclosed that K T Rameez, an accused in the gold smuggling case, had promised to involve him in the deal for modernization of educational institutions in the state.
The CPM circles believe that the ED has launched a open political game against the government using the statements of the accused and those facing charges. However, the opposition counters by citing the government's use of statements made by similar persons to move against its leaders.
