Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalanadan, on Friday, July 1, submitted a breach of privilege notice against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for misleading the Kerala Assembly earlier this week while replying to an adjournment motion moved by the Congress-led opposition over the new revelations made by gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh. On June 28, Mathew had alleged in the Assembly that the website of Veena Vijayan’s IT firm was changed recently to exclude the name of Jaik Balakumar, whose name was previously mentioned as an employee of the IT firm, as well as her mentor. Jaik Balakumar was one of the directors in a company located at the IT Space Park, which hired Swapna Suresh as a consultant after she left her job at the UAE Consulate. When the Kerala gold smuggling case erupted, it was revealed that Swapna joined the company allegedly with fake certificates.
The point Mathew was trying to make was a connection between Veena Vijayan and the gold smuggling case. Speaking in the Assembly, Mathew told the Assembly that the website of Veena's IT firm Exalogic had the description of Jaik Balakumar as her “mentor and guide”. After the case was reported, the website did not work for a while and when it reappeared, the reference to Jaik Balakumar was missing, he alleged.
However, Pinarayi rubbished the allegations and slammed Mathew for baseless statements about his daughter's IT firm and called it a blatant lie. “You are saying nonsense. My daughter had never mentioned such a person as a mentor at any stage. The Assembly is not a place for uttering anything that comes to mouth to tarnish even those who are sitting at home,” Pinarayi had said in the Assembly.
It was against this response of Pinarayi that Mathew filed a breach of privilege notice before the Speaker MB Rajesh stating that Pinarayi had misled the House. Along with the notice, he has also provided evidence from Exalogic website which mentions Jaik Balakumar and his association with Veena's IT firm, and also a video of a news report of a leading Malayalam TV news channel where Veena is talking about her firm's association with Jaik Balakumar.