Muneer welcomes vigilance re-investigation against Gyanesh Kumar in KSTP corruption case

KOZHIKODE: Muslim League leader Dr M K Muneer welcomed the vigilance reinvestigation against Chief Electoral Officer Gyanesh Kumar in the KSTP corruption case. Muneer said the investigations conducted in the past were purely aimed at politically targeting him and that there was no investigation in the suicide of an engineer associated with the Patibel company. He also questioned why the LDF government, which was in power for ten years, did not investigate the matter despite the existence of a suicide note specifically mentioning Gyanesh Kumar.

Muneer said that Gyanesh Kumar took charge as PWD secretary towards the end of his tenure as public works minister and that the vigilance court had found him innocent and had acquitted him in the case.

The KSTP project was executed very well and had improved the roads in the state. If an engineer of a Malaysian company committed suicide in the name of it, the matter should be investigated. The government should find out where the issue lies and what exactly happened. That is what this government is doing. I welcome the investigation, Muneer said.

Muneer also clarified that his arguments with Thomas Isaac were entirely political. The allegation was that there was corruption in all the works. They investigated those allegations at the time. The vigilance court found that I had acted in accordance with the PWD manual. The court had found me innocent. If they want to reinvestigate a case that was dismissed by the vigilance court, they can investigate me as well.

I am not talking merely about corruption. Finding out what led to a person’s death is a matter of greater responsibility. Why was there no investigation into the suicide note when the Left was in power? Why was the investigation delayed? There is no information being shared about the suicide. The government at that time should explain matters including why the bill was not cleared. If there are other issues, I can respond to them. As a minister, acted according to the code and the manual. I was the only one targeted at the time.

The engineer committed suicide when Thomas Isaac was the finance minister. Why was that minister not targeted? Why was there so much interest in politically eliminating me, but not in investigating the engineer’s suicide? Don’t you also think that the suicide should have been investigated at that time? I do not know where his suicide note went. If there was a problem with the entire system, it should be investigated.

Patibel was one of the companies that worked very well during my tenure as minister. Why was so much pressure put on the contractor? There was no issue related to the contract during my tenure. The minister would not withhold the funds anyway. The government changed at the stage when the bill was to be cleared. My stand is that there should be an investigation against Gyanesh Kumar,’ said Muneer.