Ready to face any probe, says Elamaram Kareem

Kozhikode: CPM leader and former industries minister Elamaram Karim, facing allegation of receiving a bribe of Rs 5 crore, has  said that he was “ready to face any probe into the issue.”  

Addressing a press conference at Palakkad along with CPM Kozhikode district secretary T.P. Ramakrishnan on Wednesday, Karim said,  “there was no violation of rules”  in the Industries Department providing in-principle clearance for a private mining company to set up an iron ore mining unit at Chakkittappara village in Kozhikode district on April 23, 2010.

“The LDF government  did  not issue  any order permitting  mining but only replied to a communication received from the union government. A communication cannot be construed as a government order,”  he said.     

Karim rubbished the allegations raised by T.M. Subair, claiming to be the driver of his confidant and relative P.M. Naushad,  of receiving Rs 5 crore as bribe from MSPL company.  However,  the CPM leader conceded that Naushad is a distant relative of him. He denied reports that Naushad acted as his  middleman during his tenure as industries minister.

“I do not have any knowledge of his day-to-day activities or business,”  he said when asked about the case against Naushad in a land scam in Kozhikode district.

He also alleged that Subair, involved in many cases, including sex racket and financial frauds, has been used by political opponents to bring discredit  to the ongoing CPM plenum at Palakkad.