Bar bribery | Speaker's nod sought for Vigilance probe against Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala is set to face a Vigilance probe as the state government has sought the Speaker's nod. This follows legal consultation as to whether Governor's sanction itself is required to take action against a person with statutory recognition. The investigation is into an old allegation raised by liquor baron Biju Ramesh on payment of bribe expecting favourable rules for bars.

The file seeking probe against Chennithala was sent to the Speaker's office on Friday after removing a minor confusion regarding a jurisdictional issue. 

The government will also seek Governor Arif Mohammad Khan's sanction for a vigilance probe against former UDF ministers V S Sivakumar and K Babu. 

Earlier the government had decided to seek Governor's sanction for carrying out the probe against Chennithala and Speaker’s nod for the probe against Sivakumar and Babu -- all Congress leaders and former ministers. 

The decision was changed following legal opinion that since Chennithala was a member of the Legislative Assembly when bar owner Biju Ramesh levelled the bribe allegations against him, Speaker's sanction was enough for the preliminary probe.

However, Governor's sanction will be taken for a probe against Babu and Sivakumar who were ministers at that time.

Chennithala's challenge

Chennithala had submitted a petition before the Governor requesting him not to give sanction for probe into a case which had already been investigated and found to be without any substance.

It may be recalled that Biju Ramesh had alleged that during the previous UDF government's tenure money was collected by bar owners and out of it Rs 1 crore was given to Chennithala, Rs 50 lakh to Babu and Rs 25 lakh to Sivakumar. The payments were made in a bid to reduce the license fee for bars.

However, there is no probe into the disclosures made by Biju Ramesh that Kerala Congress (M) leader Jose K Mani had offered Rs 1 crore to him for backing out of the allegations.