Almost 15 years after being instrumental in unearthing financial irregularities at the Sahara Group, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s chief principal secretary K M Abraham is facing a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. Abraham, a 1982-batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, is a former chief secretary and a former whole-time member of market regulator SEBI. He has been at the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) since May 2021, right from the beginning of Vijayan’s second term. In 2024, in an unprecedented move, the government accorded Cabinet rank to Abraham, making him even more powerful than a serving chief secretary of the state. The CBI probe will cover the 2003-2015 period. While directing the central agency to register the case, the High Court earlier this month said the preliminary enquiry report and the other materials showed that Abraham had movable and immovable properties disproportionate to his known sources of income. “There are sufficient facts constituting the offence under Section 13(1)(e) read with Section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act,” it said. Referring to the state vigilance department exonerating Abraham, the High Court said there was a deliberate attempt to save the high-profile bureaucrat. The CBI probe has snowballed into a political controversy, with the Opposition targeting the CMO. Congress Working Committee member Ramesh Chennithala said Abraham should be immediately removed from his post and divested of the post of CEO of Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB). “It shows that the CMO has turned into a haven of corruption,” alleged Chennithala. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan on Sunday demanded Abraham’s resignation, saying it was a matter of shame that the bureaucrat continued to remain in the CMO. “If he refuses to step down, the CM must remove him from office. Is the CM afraid of Abraham because he was a witness in the Lavalin case?” Satheesan asked, alleging that the official, in a letter to Vijayan, had revealed that he possessed 10,000 seconds of call data records of prominent persons. Satheesan claimed Abraham had admitted to illegal phone tapping. “It is ironic that during the tenure of a CPI(M) Politburo member as Kerala CM, someone who has advocated for legislation against phone tapping, his Principal Secretary is now involved in such activities,” he alleged. A parallel and CPM to the defence The Opposition is drawing a parallel with Vijayan’s previous term when his then principal secretary M Sivasankar got embroiled in the 2020 gold smuggling scam. Sivankar was the most powerful officer in the CMO as well as the state bureaucracy at the time. His arrest by the Enforcement Directorate was a major embarrassment for Vijayan as he was known to be the CM's close confidant. Other central agencies, including the National Investigation Agency and the Income Tax and Customs departments, had also investigated him. Alleging conspiracy, Abraham has left his future in the CMO and the KIIFB to Vijayan. "I will legally challenge the case," he told The Indian Express. With the Congress dialling up the heat, Vijayan told reporters, “He had given me a letter. I understand that he will be ready to challenge the matter legally. Let us see where it reaches. He is also raising a few legal issues.” The CPI(M) has also rallied behind Abraham. Targeting the Congress, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan said on Sunday, “The central agencies have no qualms about uttering any lies. Let the CBI investigate Abraham. The Opposition's demand that action be taken against him is political. The court has not found him guilty. When central agencies are out with the case, the Congress is joining hands with them. When the case is against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul, Congress finds it politically motivated. When similar cases are in Kerala, the Congress does not find any political motive in it.” Sahara case to handling Kerala finances Abraham had also hit headlines over a decade ago. While functioning as a whole-time director of SEBI from 2008-2011, Abraham, who had been in charge of secondary markets, probed the Sahara India investor fraud scandal that pertained to raising funds from the stock market. He directed the Sahara Group to refund the money mobilised from investors, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court. In Kerala, Abraham, who holds an MTech degree from IIT-Kanpur and a PhD degree from the University of Michigan in the US, was mostly associated with the state’s finance department before becoming the chief secretary in 2017. During the Congress regime (2011-2016), he served as additional chief secretary for finance. Even after the Vijayan government came into office, Abraham continued at the helm of the finance department. He was credited with streamlining the state's finances during the cash-strapped days. In recent years, he has been known mainly as the CEO of KIIFB, which the Left Democratic Front (LDF) floated in 2016 to mobilise funds from the open market to invest in infrastructure. In the last nine years, KIIFB-fund projects from roads to schools have become major achievements of the LDF government. In 2022, the ED registered a case against KIIFB alleging violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in connection with raising Rs 2,150 crore masala bonds listed on the London Stock Market. The ED served a summons to Abraham, among others, in the case. In 2016, Abraham, who was an additional secretary at the time, locked horns with DGP and Vigilance chief Jacob Thomas over inspecting his house as part of a vigilance probe into the alleged amassing of wealth. That complaint had been submitted by activist Jomon Puthenpurackal, who is also the complainant behind the CBI probe. At the time, Abraham alleged a conspiracy behind the inspection, saying it showed ulterior motives on the part of Thomas.
