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Kerala vigilance recommends CBI probe against LoP Satheesan over FCRA violation
The Kerala VACB has recommended transferring a fund diversion case involving Congress leader VD Satheesan to the CBI, sparking political tensions ahead of elections.
The Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), in a report to the state government, has recommended transferring the case of illegal diversion of funds sourced from foreign entities for a housing rehabilitation project in Ernakulam district involving Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan to the Central Bureau of investigation (CBI), a development that has sparked a political row ahead of the Assembly elections this year.
Congress’s Satheesan, a five-time MLA who took over as the LoP in the assembly following the UDF’s defeat in the 2021 assembly elections, has emerged as one of the strongest voices against the LDF government and an adept election manager under whom the UDF has won a string of bypolls and, most recently, the local body polls.
The Punarjani project was launched by Satheesan in his assembly constituency of North Paravur in the backdrop of the 2018 floods with the aim of helping those who were displaced in the natural disaster. Funds were collected from individuals abroad, including the UK, in the name of a newly formed Manapattu Foundation. The VACB, which had investigated the case for more than five years, had found that the funds were routed to the Foundation’s FCRA account through a UK-based NGO.
The probe revolved around the visit of Satheesan to the UK in 2019, reportedly approved as a private visit, but during which the Congress leader made public appeals to raise funds for the rehabilitation of flood-affected people and buy weaving machines for the survivors.
The VACB report, officials said, recommended that since the possible offences were under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2019, the CBI was the ideal agency to investigate the case.
The state agency recommended a CBI probe under section 3(2)(a) of the FCRA Act, 2010 and simultaneous action against the LoP by the speaker under Rule 41 of Appendix II of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly.
The recommendation is learnt to have been submitted to the chief minister’s office recently. The state government is yet to take any action on the file.
Meanwhile, Satheesan said the case will not legally stand in court because there was 100% transparency in the way funds were managed for the rehabilitation scheme.
“This was a case that was abandoned by the Vigilance and the Home department after being investigated for years. Again, they reopened it and probed it again, as is the trend nowadays. I have said in the past that I will fight the case legally and politically. I have cooperated with officials and provided all the evidence,” he said.
He pointed out that even before the 2021 assembly elections, similar allegations were raised against UDF leaders, including the late Oommen Chandy. “Let them (CBI) register the case. We will see.”
Top Congress leaders, including Ramesh Chennithala and KC Venugopal, weaved a protective shield around Satheesan, claiming that the state’s vindictive politics against the UDF will not work.
Chennithala said, “These allegations are like feeble crackers. They won’t burst. Elections are coming, so we are expecting more such cases.”
Venugopal said, “These are political gimmicks ahead of elections. People are intelligent enough to see through them. Pinarayi has only one agenda: please Modi and somehow hang on to power.”
CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan said that the party does not endorse the view that a CBI investigation is the last word on any case.
“Since this case involves allegations of money being sourced and routed from abroad, the state government will take an appropriate decision. We leave it to the government,” he said.
CM Pinarayi Vijayan has not reacted to the development so far.
