In the latest scandal that has erupted around the LDF government, a member of the personal staff of the Health Minister Veena George stands accused of taking a bribe of ₹1 lakh, while promising a job aspirant, the post of a medical officer at one of the Ayush centres under National Ayush Mission (NAM) in the State.
One Haridasan from Malappuram, appeared before TV cameras on Wednesday morning to make the revelation that he had paid ₹1 lakh to a member of the personal staff of Ms. George, Akhil Mathew, and ₹75,000 to another CPI(M) man at Pathanamthitta, Akhil Sajeev, so that his daughter-in-law would get appointed to one of the temporary postings made by NAM .
He had handed over the money directly to a person he believed to be Akhil Sajeev at Thiruvananthapuram in April , near the office of the Health Minister.
He said that his daughter-in-law had received an appointment order by email from NAM within two days of the money being handed over but that it was realised later that the said document was fake. He said that he had recently given a written complaint to the Health Minister, that one of her personal staff had taken bribe from him.
Ms. George, who spoke to the media here after the scandal broke, said that her personal secretary had informed her about the complaint against Akhil Mathew, following which she had sought a written complaint. She had also confronted Akhil Mathew about the allegation against him and that he had professed his innocence. She said that she had advised him to file a police complaint so that a police inquiry will bring the entire truth out.
She denied that her office had been misused or that her personal staff had been involved in the corruption allegations and said that the police will investigate all aspects of the case, including if there had been a conspiracy to involve her personal staff member
Meanwhile, the CITU’s Pathanamthitta district secretary told media that Akhil Sajeev, who is supposed to have played the middleman and collected money, had been thrown out of the party much earlier following similar allegations
Later, on the basis of a complaint filed by Akhil Mathew, the Cantonment police on Wednesday registered a case and an investigation will be initiated
Reacting to the scandal, the Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan, said that the allegation is quite serious and shocking.
Mr. Satheesan said that there was a delay on the part of the Minister’s office in handing over the complaint to the police. He asked if the Minister was unaware of what was happening in her own office and demanded that an inquiry be conducted into all appointments made by the Health department to ascertain if corrupt deals had happened earlier also.
He alleged that corruption had become a way of life with the present administrative dispensation and that every day brought new tales of corruption and nepotism from various departments.
