Thiruvananthapuram : At a press conference held on Monday, Biju Ramesh said former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and his wife, had called him urging not to mention his name in the secret testimony related to bar bribery case. That’s the reason why Chennithala’s name does not mentioned in the testimony given then, he added.
Biju said he stood firm on his claim that Chennithala was paid 1 crore rupees and former ministers K Babu and VS Sivakumar were given Rs 50 and Rs 25 lakh respectively in bribes. K Babu was backed by Oomen Chandy, said Biju. At the time of each remittance, Babu would say everything was being done as per CM’s instructions,
When bar bribery blew up during UDF tenure, Chennithala’s wife had called. That call was made from the gunman’s phone. She had pleaded to spare Chennithala’s name in the case saying, he had suffered from several health issues. Next day, Chennithala made the call himself. At that time, he reminded of the longstanding friendship we shared and asked to refrain from causing any harm, Biju said. This is why, I refrained from mentioning his name while testifying.; However, soon enough, the same Chennithala filed a fake case against me for my accusing KM Mani in the case, said Biju.
Chennithala, Babu and Sivakumar are people who will do t anything for money. Anyone can purchase Chennithala. He had accepted the bribes while being the KPCC president, Biju told reporters.
The Vigilance has the records of the meeting on Rs 10 crore bribe paid by Bar Association towards lowering the license fee. An answer to where those moneys were pumped would do in the case, he added.
Bar bribery case should be investigated by central agencies, said Biju adding that, though uncertain on the fate of investigations, he will fully cooperate with ongoing probe.
