The UAE consulate gold smuggling case that dogged the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government made a dramatic comeback with Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in the financial crime, reiterating her “damning” accusations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family in a sensational and combative Facebook live broadcast that riveted public attention in some measure on Thursday.
Swapna claimed that “an emissary” allegedly acting at the behest of Mr. Vijayan and Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M. V. Govindan had attempted to strong-arm her into dropping her charges against the Chief Minister and family.
Swapna claimed the middleman approached her as a web series producer interested in her life story.
She alleged that the person claimed to be acting on Mr. Vijayan’s and Mr. Govindan’s authority and offered her ₹30 crore and a duplicate passport to drop her accusations and disappear from the country.
‘Threat to life’
Swapna claimed the “mediator” threatened her with dire consequences if she rejected the offer.
Swapna said she has complained to the Karnataka “home department” and enforcement directorate (ED) about the “threat to her life”.
Swapna accused Mr. Vijayan of profiting from public office and “exploiting and manipulating her” to advance his family’s “business interests.”
She also accused two top entrepreneurs of being Mr. Vijayan’s alleged business fronts and said she would ensure the public saw their “true colour”. Swapna claimed she had briefed the ED about their financial shenanigans.
In June 2022, Swapna made a similar accusation against a former journalist and a high ranking officer.
Opposition seeks explanation
Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran said Mr. Vijayan and Mr. Govindan owed the public an explanation.
The LDF reportedly viewed the accusations as an echo of the vicious “slander campaign” it faced and defeated in the 2021 Assembly polls.
Moreover, the CPI(M) believed that the accusations were part of an entrenched conspiracy to rid Mr. Govindan’s “Janakeeya Prathirodha Jatha” of its sheen and divert public attention from the politically high-profile issues, including the Centre’s “anti-minority, anti-State and anti-people policies” it sought to highlight.
