Kerala Assembly Speaker seeks Minister’s clarification on allegations of leaking CAG report

Kerala Legislative Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan has sought an explanation from Finance Minister Thomas Isaac after a complaint was lodged against the latter by the opposition alleging a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report was leaked to the media before it was tabled in the House.

Sreeramakrishnan, acting on the complaint filed before him, asked Isaac to submit an explanation in the matter at the earliest.

Congress MLA VD Satheesan had filed a complaint to the Privileges and Ethics Committee of Kerala Legislative Assembly, accusing Isaac of infringing on the rights of the House by revealing details of the process of the audit before it was tabled in the Assembly.

The Leader of the Opposition in Kerala Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala had also written to the Speaker asking for his intervention on the issue alleging that the Finance minister flouted all constitutional norms and violated the oath of secrecy by leaking the CAG report before it was tabled in the Assembly.

Chennithala, in his letter, demanded his resignation and action against the minister for “violating” the Constitution by disclosing the report in public before tabling it in the Assembly.

Isaac had last week targeted the CAG over its “findings” in its report that the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) was “unconstitutionally” raising loans. He had said that the Kerala government will not allow the CAG to destroy KIIFB.

The CAG had earlier this week clarified that an audit report on state finances for the year ended March 2019 was submitted on November 6 to be tabled in the Kerala Assembly.