Kodiyeri Balakrishnan discloses bribe giver names

Thiruvananthapuram: In an apparent bid to shake away the perception that the CPM was going soft on bribe-tainted Finance Minister K.M. Mani, Deputy Leader of the Opposition Kodiyeri Balakrishnan revealed in the Assembly on Monday the names of the people who handed over the money to the minister, the places where the bribe was taken and the time.

Mr Balakrishnan also claimed to be in possession of a CD which had visuals and phone transcripts that he said could implicate Mr Mani. He  moved an adjournment motion demanding the resignation of the finance minister and when the chair disallowed it,  the LDF staged a walkout.

Mr Balakrishnan said that the financé minister was paid a bribe of Rs 1 crore by bar owners in three instalments.

The first tranche of Rs 35 lakh was paid at the minister’s official residence in the capital on the morning of April 2, the day the cabinet decided to shut down 418 bars.

The money was carried by Biju Ramesh’s driver Vijayakumar in a Maruti 800 bearing the number KL-01 B 7878, he said.

The second instalment of Rs 15 lakh was paid later at Mr Mani’s house in Pala by bar contractors Dhanesh, Raj Kumara and Krishnadas.

The remaining Rs 50 lakh was also paid at Mr Mani’s home in Pala by a contractor named Animon.

“I have given the names of the people who have handed over the money. The Vigilance just has to check whether the mobile phones of these people were in the vicinity of the places I have mentioned,” Mr Balakrishnan said.

His major charge was that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) had failed to carry out even the basic investigative steps. The mobile phone records and the bank accounts of bar owners have not yet been verified, he said.

“Though Biju Ramesh had said he was ready for a lie detector test, the VACB has not subjected Ramesh or anybody else for such a test,” Mr Balakrishnan said.

He said that the UDF high-power committee’s conclusion that Mr Mani was innocent was a clear message sent out to the VACB.

He said that the quick verification had been dragging on for more than a month when there was a Supreme Court ruling that said that it should not go beyond 15 days.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, however, contradicted this saying that a more recent verdict of a Supreme Court constitutional bench, which included present Governor P.  Sathasivam, had said that in exceptional cases it could go up to 45 days.

He said the QV was ordered the day Opposition Leader V.S. Achuthanandan sent a letter demanding a Vigilance inquiry.