Congress MLA who raised allegations against Kerala CM now faces probes

In what looks like a tit for tat move, Congress MLA in Kerala Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who raised financial allegations against Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter, is now facing probes by multiple state government agencies over allegations of amassing illegal wealth, tax evasion and illegal landfilling.

On Monday a revenue department team conducted verifications at the premises of his house at Muvattupuzha to look into illegal land filling allegations, while the state Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau also initiated a preliminary verification into a complaint against the MLA.

Kuzhalnadan, who is also a leading lawyer, recently tried to raise in the Assembly an Income Tax department report stating that the Chief Minister's daughter Veena T received Rs. 1.72 crore from a controversial mining firm Cochin Minerals and Rutiles Limited. He also alleged that there was discrepancy in the income of Veena as well as that of spouse's income shown by her husband Tourism Minister Mohammed Riyas in his election affidavit in 2021.

Earlier Kuzhalnadan raised allegations of Veena's association with a top official of an international consultancy firm that has dealings with state government projects. Vijayan had them literally fumed at Kuzhalnadan accusing him of raising 'baseless allegations' against his daughter, even as Kuzhalnadan backed his allegations with documents.

For these reasons Congress alleges that the present inquiries by state government agencies against Kuzhalnadan are vindictive moves.

CPM Ernakulam district leadership raised allegations over Kuzhalnadan's wealth and the resort. Even as the value of a property at Chinnakanal he purchased in 2021 was shown as Rs. 1.9 crore in the sale deed, in his election affidavit in 2021 the value was shown as Rs. 3.5 core. Kuzhalnadan's justification is that the advance amount paid for purchasing an adjacent property as well as the amount spent for development and renovation of the property were also considered while giving the election affidavit.

CPM also alleged that the resort was a violation of land use norms as land could be used only for agriculture or housing purposes in the ecologically fragile region.

The party further alleged that even as the income of Kuzhalnadan and his wife from 2013 to 2021 was Rs. 95.86 lakhs, the wealth he acquired during this period was Rs. 30.5 crore - around 30 times of his declared income.

Kuzhalnadan challenged the CPM to depute any leaders like former finance minister Thomas Isaac who is familiar with financial matters to verify his accounts.

Based on a petition filed by the CPM, the Vigilance is likely to initiate quick verification into the allegation.

Kuzhalnadan also denied the land filling allegation at Muvattupuzha. Congress sources said that the revenue authorities already conducted a verification a few months back and found that there was no irregular land filling. The Vigilance is now looking into the allegations as part of preliminary verification of a complaint.