Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly, V D Satheesan on Tuesday urged Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to give a clear reply on the summons issued by the Enforcement Directorate to his son Vivek Kiran instead of getting emotional.
Speaking to media, he said the probe agency has confirmed that a notice was served to Kiran addressed to Cliff House, his official residence, and now it is the CM who must explain why it was issued.
“The Chief Minister himself should respond to the controversy surrounding the ED’s summons against Kiran. The CM should not respond emotionally — that is not what Kerala wants to hear. What the people expected from him is a clear explanation of the reason behind the notice,” Satheesan said.
He asked whether the reported direction to halt the follow-up action on the summons issued to CM Vijayan’s son came either from senior officials or the political leadership.
Stating that the ED was silent only on the investigation against Pinarayi Vijayan’s son while taking action against opposition leaders in other states, Satheesan asked whether the ED received instructions from above not to take action against Pinarayi Vijayan’s son.
Targeting the ED, he said it was for the central agency to explain why the notice that had been sent to the CM’s son was kept a secret.
“Under what kind of pressure or under what hidden influences was the investigation dropped? I have unofficially learnt that there was an instruction from higher authorities to stop further proceedings. Whether that is true or not, only the ED can clarify,” Satheesan said.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday dismissed reports that his son, Vivek Kiran, had received a summons from the ED in connection with a money laundering case.
Meanwhile, a Malayalam daily has reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has confirmed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s son Vivek Kiran was summoned in 2023.
The report says that ED Assistant Director P.K. Anand had issued summons to Vivek asking him to appear before the agency on February 14, 2023, in the Lavlin case.