Kerala gold smuggling scandal: Upbeat Congress moves to corner Left

The smuggling scandal first emerged in 2020 following the seizure of 30 kgs of gold from a diplomatic cargo addressed to the UAE Consulate-General Office in Thiruvananthapuram. Diplomatic cargo enjoys immunity from routine Customs examination. Swapna Suresh, who had served as the executive secretary at the Consulate, is one of the main accused in the case.

On Tuesday, Suresh accused Vijayan of taking a bag full of currency to the UAE in 2016 with the help of a diplomat at the Consulate, an allegation denied by the CM. Suresh, who levelled the allegations while speaking to the media after deposing in a court in Kochi in a money laundering case, also dragged Vijayan’s wife Kamala and their daughter Veena into the controversy. She alleged that the CM’s wife and daughter were also involved in the smuggling and claimed to have evidence.

The police have registered a case against Suresh and senior politician P C George after Left legislator and former minister K T Jaleel accused them of conspiring for several months and making defamatory comments about him, the CM, and the state government.

In August 2021, three months after the Left retained power under the CM’s leadership, Customs show-cause notices to the accused in a dollar export case quoted P S Sarith, another accused in the gold smuggling case, alleging that Vijayan took a packet containing a bundle of currency notes to the UAE in 2017. But, with the Left retaining control of a major chunk of local bodies in 2020 and then winning the Assembly polls a few months later, Sarith’s accusations did not have much of an effect as the Opposition also desisted from attacking the CM on the issue.

But, almost a year since then, the political atmosphere in the state seems to have shifted a little and the Congress seems to have been buoyed by the victory in Thrikkakara. Following Suresh’s allegations, the Opposition party hit the streets to demand Vijayan’s resignation. On Wednesday, the Congress held protests across the state in places such as Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Pathanamthitta.

The BJP, which had jostled with the Congress for a space in protests on the issue in 2020, seems to have taken a backseat. On Tuesday, the police registered a case of non-bailable offence against the party’s state president K Surendran in connection with the alleged abduction of a Dalit candidate in last year’s Assembly polls. Several BJP leaders are also under the state home department’s scanners over the alleged looting of party election funds.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) and other Left parties have rallied behind Vijayan following the latest allegations. The party, its feeder outfits, and junior ally CPI have dismissed Suresh’s allegations. The CPI(M) has also accused the BJP-led Centre of using central agencies to target political rivals.

For Vijayan, such allegations are nothing new. He dealt with the SNC Lavalin scandal for several years. At the time, a faction led by former CM V S Achuthanandan had led an intra-party battle against Vijayan who was the CPI(M) state secretary. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had named Vijayan as an accused in the case, but in 2013 a trial court dismissed the charges against him. A CBI petition challenging the trial court order has been pending in the Supreme Court since 2017.