CM Pinarayi rejects media reports of ED summoning his son in 2023 on suspicion of money laundering

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday strongly countered media reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had issued a notice to his son, Vivek Kiran, for questioning on suspicion of money laundering and then “mystifyingly dropped” further proceedings in 2023.

The channels had claimed that the ED addressed the purported notice to the Cliff House, Mr. Vijayan’s official residence in Thiruvananthapuram.

Subsequently, the Congress seized on the reports to wrong-foot the government. It alleged that Mr. Vijayan’s “secret symbiotic truck” with the ruling dispensation at the Centre had stymied the ED’s further action.

Mr. Vijayan told a press conference, somewhat combatively, that the adverse newspaper headlines and accusatory news chyrons on television channels would not deter him, as in the past, from taking the derogatory allegations aimed at causing him political and reputational damage head-on.

He clarified that neither the Cliff House nor his son had received any such summons from the agency (ED). He said the Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary M.A. Baby had talked about the existence of the purported notice without “studying” the matter. “The media reports that hit the headlines must have informed his initial reaction,” he said.

Mr Vijayan appeared to strike a personal note. He said his two children had done him proud. “Both have lived their own lives and not given any cause to me or my politics to feel embarrassed about them. My son shuttles between his work and home. Have you ever seen him in the halls of power?. He does not even know the layout of Cliff House and is rarely at home. He has never sought to monetise my office. Can you (the media) say the same about the children of certain other politicians?,” he added. 

Mr. Vijayan noted that the regional-language media house that broke the “story” seemed somehow compelled to publish hand-fed falsehoods purportedly from the “agency”.

He said the media outlet had urged viewers to remain tuned in for “bombshell news,” which turned out to be a damp squib.

Mr. Vijayan said he and his family had been the victims of several media witch-hunts and slanderous campaigns throughout his political life. 

“However, the smear campaigns have rarely perturbed me. I watch them unfold with a sense of inner amusement. Truth, honesty and incorruptability fortify me. My hands are clean, untainted by corruption or nepotism. I have the courage of that conviction,” he said.