Anil Antony dismisses 'Dallal' Nandakumar's bribery allegation, calls it dirty politics

Thiruvananthapuram: BJP leader and the NDA's candidate in Pathanamthitta for the Lok Sabha elections Anil Antony on Wednesday dismissed the allegations levelled by T G Nandakumar alias 'Dallal' (broker) Nandakumar that he had accepted Rs 25 lakh as bribe from the latter.

Talking to the media, Anil said: “This is the opposition playing dirty politics after realising that I will win the elections. They used A K Antony (his father) first. However, that did not yield the desired result. The opposition has deployed an accused in a criminal case to level baseless allegations. I am Stanford-educated and would never stoop so low. However, they aren't letting me keep that standard.”

He further said it was Congress veteran and former MP P J Kurien who introduced him to Nandakumar. “I cut off all connections with Nandakumar when he kept asking for favours. P J Kurien is a backstabber. He has betrayed Karunakaran, Antony and Oommen Chandy in collusion with Nandakumar,” said Anil.

The BJP leader also accused the family of Anto Antony, the UDF candidate for the polls in Pathanamthitta, of being involved in a Rs 12-crore bank fraud.

Meanwhile, responding to Anil's challenge to prove the allegation, Nandakumar, who is an alleged middleman in several political controversies in the state, said if he insists on seeing the evidence, visuals of the BJP leader accepting the money would be released. He also said he's not an accused in any criminal case.

Nandakumar’s allegations
Talking to the media on Tuesday, Nandakumar said he paid the amount to Anil way back in April 2013 to get a lawyer close to him appointed as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)’s standing counsel in the Kerala High Court. He said he approached Anil considering his proximity to then CBI director Ranjit Sinha. He said Anil did not keep his promise and he got the money back in five instalments after he approached some Congress leaders.

“When Ranjit Sinha was the CBI director from December 3, 2012, to December 2, 2014, standing counsel for Kerala High Court was empanelled. It was around April-May 2013. A lawyer I was close to was also empanelled and interviewed. A syndicate comprising Anil Antony, IAS officer P J Thomas, who was sacked as central vigilance commissioner, and one Anto used to function from Oberoi Hotel in Delhi. Incidentally, when I contacted Thomas, he referred me to Anil. He said Anil was close to the CBI director. When I enquired, I found that it was true. Ranjit Sinha’s appointment was cleared after getting the nod of a committee headed by A K Antony. Naturally, Antony’s son got good access to the CBI director.

Anil kept delaying the appointment of the lawyer and when the CBI director retired, I asked him to pay my money back. Then, the UPA government changed and the NDA came to power. Before complaining with the new government, I informed the matter to then Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P J Kurien. He intervened and promised to speak to Anil and Antony. Antony neither had any personal connection with me nor had I tried to make any. Despite Kurien's intervention, I did not get my money back. So I contacted Congress leader P T Thomas. After he interfered, Anil paid me back the amount in five instalments.”

Nandakumar said he would produce evidence of the incident if Anil or Kurien refuted his allegations. He did not mention the date when he paid the amount but said Anil received the money from him in a big plastic cover at the Ashoka Hotel in Delhi.

In a more serious allegation, Nandakumar said Anil used to make huge amounts of money by leaking defence-related files to middlemen when his father was the defence minister.

Pointing fingers at the BJP leadership, Nandakumar said the party leadership knew about Anil’s deals and he joined the BJP to save himself from investigations.

Nandakumar said he was provoked to expose Anil after hearing him making tall claims about being a patriot and accusing others of anti-national activities.