Thiruvananthapuram: Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty said that he never took the money placed on the table in front of him even during the bar bribery period. He said he had never accepted money with "his hands" till now. He clarified that he was stressing the words “with his hands”.
There would be no one who runs political parties in the entire world with better integrity, he said. If the party has accepted donations, it would have issued receipts and also properly accounted for the amounts.
Kunhalikutty was reacting to allegations that leaders of the United Democratic Front too had taken money from officials of the Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL). The chief financial officer of CMRL, K S Suresh Kumar, had made a statement to the Income Tax department stating that the company had paid money to leaders such as Pinarayi Vijayan, Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala, P K Kunhalikutty, and V K Ebrahim Kunju. He said that allegations against the Chief Minister and his daughter would be raised in the Assembly at the appropriate time.
“The Leader of the Opposition has said that the issue would be raised when the opportunity arises. If the issue is about the leaders who have been named, they are all persons who run political parties. During the time of the bar bribery incident, I never took money with my hands from anyone. I am someone who runs a political party. Naturally, if donations were given to the party, receipts too would have been issued and the amounts accounted for," Kunhalikutty said.
“Just because we were given money, does it mean that the Pollution Control Board should not act against the company? Those who have been named are all leaders of political parties. We do not know whether the payments were made as donations or not. These things happened a long time ago. If donations were accepted, the party would have issued the receipts and the amount would have been accounted for. This is the issue and there is nothing more to it," he added.
“The list of those who received payments has named media establishments, press clubs, and mediapersons. In the 10-30 year history of a nation, there will be such charities, sponsorship or advertisements. Is this not a company that is functioning in this country? What a host of activities would it have sponsored? Should we all claim purity in this manner? It is futile to do that".
