ED coercing people to testify against Pinarayi Vijayan, daughter Veena: Mohamed Riyas

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] Keralam State secretariat member P.A. Mohamed Riyas has alleged that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is intimidating people to issue statements against him, his wife T. Veena, and her father and Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan.

Addressing a press conference in Kozhikode on Thursday morning, the Beypore MLA claimed that the statements thus procured are then being supplied to the media as official press releases. Mr. Riyas alleged that the ED officials had earlier asked Ms. Veena to give a statement against her father. However, she declined to do so. Mr. Riyas also claimed that the agency had spread wrong information about her testimony in connection with the Exalogic-Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd. (CMRL) pay-off case too.

It was reported that Ms. Veena had testified before the ED that her now-defunct company Exalogic Solutions Private Ltd had not provided any services to CMRL. “She has never done so. Ms. Veena has actually given a detailed statement on the services provided to CMRL and the payment received through bank accounts and the taxes paid,” Mr. Riyas said.

S.N. Sasidharan Kartha, the CMRL Managing Director, too did not give any statement saying Ms. Veena’s firm had not provided any service, he added.

Asked about media reports that said he had “illegally” amassed ₹20.5 crore and “diverted” a portion of this wealth to Dubai to “set up a business unit there”, Mr. Riyas said both he and his wife had visited that country multiple times. “Are political leaders visiting Dubai to channel their hawala money?” he asked.

The media reports are reportedly based on a letter written by the ED to the State Police Chief on September 7 seeking registration of a separate FIR under the Prevention of Corruption Act and other relevant laws against Mr. Vijayan, Ms. Veena, and Mr. Riyas in the pay-off case.

The CPI(M) leader alleged the family members of one of his friends, a businessman in Kozhikode, were also threatened and forced by the ED to testify against him, Ms. Veena and Mr. Vijayan after a search operation on August 18.

“A letter sent by him to the agency retracting his earlier statement has come out now. The agency is reported to have threatened to implicate his 22-year-daughter in the case and put her behind bars for years. He was asked who was he trying to protect, his daughter or someone else’s daughter,” Mr. Riyas said.

‘Character assassination’

Asked why Ms. Veena was not reacting to the allegations, Mr. Riyas said it was her constitutional right to respond or not to respond. “What is happening now is character assassination. The truth will come out one day. I am willing to be questioned by the agency, I have clear replies to all their questions. Did the ED get anything after their searches? I will not bow down to such tactics by an untrustworthy agency. I will fight it politically and legally,” he added.