In another hurdle to former Kerala minister and UDF leader VK Ebrahim Kunju, the Enforcement Directorate has charged him for allegedly laundering black money. Ebrahim, the mouthpiece of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) in Kerala, has already been booked by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) for alleged corruption in the construction of Rs 488 crore Palarivattom flyover in Kochi.
The Enforcement Directorate informed the High Court on Thursday that it has filed a case against the former minister for allegedly laundering Rs 10 crore, reports Asianet News.
Ebrahim Kunju, who is one of the director board members of Chandrika newspaper, allegedly deposited Rs 10 crore in the two bank accounts of the newspaper in 2016, reportedly just after demonetisation. The money is allegedly related to the alleged corruption in Palarivattom flyover construction.
The flyover, that was constructed while Ebrahim Kunju was the Public Works Department minister, has been closed for traffic since May 2018 after serious structural damages were found in it.
The Enforcement Directorate has reportedly moved the High Court seeking permission to arrest the former minister. Meanwhile, the court has sought a report from the VACB about making the arrest. The court sought the report while considering a plea of a Kalamassery native asking why the former minister had not been arrested despite both the Kerala government and the Governor sanctioning the prosecution proceedings.
Earlier in March, VACB had raided Ebrahim Kunju’s house in Kochi. VACB has charged him as the fifth accused in the Palarivattom flyover case, in which he allegedly sanctioned an interest free mobilisation advance of Rs 8.25 crore in advance to RDS Projects Ltd, the construction company. Mobilisation advance is paid to the contractor by the client for initial expenditure of the project, reducing the contractor's need to take working capital from his own pocket.