The Kerala Bar Hotels Association (KBHA) has decided to back the bribery allegation leveled by the association working president Biju Ramesh against State Finance Minister K.M. Mani.
Mr. Ramesh would appear before the vigilance team constituted to conduct a quick verification into the allegation on Friday and produce the evidence to substantiate his allegation. The decision was taken at a meeting of the 72-member State executive meeting of KBHA held at a hotel in the city on Thursday.
He had alleged to have paid Rs. 1 crore as bribe to the Minister to get a favourable decision on reopening bars throwing the State politics into a tailspin. The State government had since then constituted a vigilance team to conduct a quick verification to assess the need for a full fledged inquiry.
Briefing media persons about the decisions after the more than four hours long meeting, KBHA State president D. Rajkumar said that serious allegations against many others had been raised by the association members in the committee. He, however, declined to clarify whether allegations had been raised against more ministers.
A five-member committee chaired by KBHA State general secretary M.D. Dhanesh has been entrusted with collecting evidences on these allegations. The allegations backed by such evidences would be placed before the general body’s approval and revealed before the public.
The association pledged its full cooperation to the inquiry team of the vigilance. It was also decided to engage top notch lawyers wto fight the bar cases in the court.
An emergency aid of Rs. 1 lakh each would be given to the families of bar hotel workers who committed suicide on losing jobs following the closure of bars.
