Keralam: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shone George released on Thursday a diary entry allegedly belonging to the Managaing Director of Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) Sasidharan Kartha listing the name of Keralam Chief Minister VD Satheesan, along with the names of several prominent political leaders.
The disclosed diary entry allegedly shows, against the names of leaders, the amount of money paid to each. The entry shows that Rs 5,00,000 was paid to the chief minister. It is not clear for what purposes the money was paid for.
The entry disclosed by George, also lists the names of several leaders from both the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF). Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Hibi Eden, K B Ganesh Kumar, Palode Ravi, Anwar Sadath, Johhny Nellore, G Sudhakaran, Pinarayi Vijayan and late leaders such as K R Gowri Amma, M P Veerendra Kumar, Oommen Chandy, V S Achuthanandhan,T M Jacob, among others, are also listed.
George, who made the disclosure through Facebook, later held a press conference to explain his statements. The BJP leader said that the diary entry was seized by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) from Kartha and later submitted to court as part of a chargesheet. He also stated that he acquired the document from Shajan Scaria, the owner of the YouTube channel, Marunadan Malayali.
Kartha is the owner of CMRL, in the centre of a political storm in Keralam. Recently, the state government directed that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) be formed to probe the CMRL-Exalogic financial irregularities case involving Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan, his daughter Veena T and son-in-law P A Muhammad Riyas.