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Will get to the bottom of gold smuggling racket, says junior foreign minister
Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cannot absolve himself in the smuggling case.
The gold smuggling racket busted in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday has ranged the Kerala government against the Centre with Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Wednesday describing the incident as a serious lapse and that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cannot wash his hands off easily.
“He says he has no idea what his secretary did. How can he lob the ball into the Centre’s court saying airports come under the Union Government? Our investigation is on and we will bring out the truth,” said the minister in Delhi. “The Centre has definite information that it was not a one- off incident.”
The Customs department had seized 30 kg gold from an air cargo consignment from the United Arab Emirates to the country’s consulate in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
Swapna Suresh, who was working as the operational manager of the Kerala State Information Technology Infrastructure Limited under the state IT Ministry, who is now alleged to be a key player in the racket had gone underground after the seizure. Later the CM had transferred his principal secretary M Sivasankar who was close to Suresh and declared that he was ready for any probe into the smuggling
“Our investigation is on. We will also bring to light those who helped smugglers. We will get into the bottom of the racket. The main accused was given a plum posting when she was mired in another cheating case. Often she was treated more than a high-ranking diplomat and after her role came to light now the CM says he has no idea how she got the job,” said Muraleedharan.
The junior minister in the MEA who also hails from Kerala has often clashed with chief minister Vijayan over a range of issues, most recently over the evacuation of expatriates from west Asian countries.
When asked about a CBI probe, Muraleedharan said the request will have to come from either the state government or the court. He said the consignment came to the airport on Friday and it was opened on Sunday in the presence of consulate officials. He said it was wrong to call it a diplomatic baggage because it came in the name of a person, not an official consignment. He also said customs has sought the MEA permission to quiz some officials of the consulate and the government will decide after talking to competent authority in the UAE.
Vijayan who has also come under fire from the opposition wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday seeking a coordinated investigation by central agencies into the case because of its serious implication of undermining the country’s economy.
“It is requested that an effective and coordinated investigation into this incident by all central agencies concerned is the need of the hour. The scope of the probe should cover all aspects from the source to the end utilization ,” teh letter said.
Meanwhile, amid a clamour by the opposition for Vijayan’s resignation, Kerala’s industry minister E P Jayarajan hurriedly called a press briefing and said there was a move to discredit the popularity of the CM and the state’s ongoing fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Kerala is on top of the world. Opposition parties are worried over the popularity of the state government. That is why they are raking up issues to target the government,” said Jayarajan.
He said the CM has made it clear the state was ready for any probe. He said such incidents will not affect the all-out war against the virus and people will see through the designs of opposition parties.
