An emergency district committee meeting of the Ernakulam Press Club held on Friday removed three of its office bearers in the wake of the controversy over the receipt of sponsorship from the alleged fraudster Monson Mavunkal for the organisation’s annual gathering last year.
Press Club president Philipose Mathew, secretary P. Sasikanth, and treasurer Sijo Painadath were removed from their positions following a majority opinion to that effect at the meeting over the serious error of judgment in accepting the dubious sponsorship. They were replaced temporarily by Jipson Shikhera, C.N. Regi, and Beena Rani respectively.
The meeting decided to remove the district executive member Sahin Antony from the position after preliminary inquiry findings that he had misled the district executive committee and indulged in large scale misappropriation of funds. It was also decided to recommend to the State committee to remove Sahin from the primary membership of the Kerala Union of Working Journalists in view of the ongoing probe over his alleged associations with Monson.
The district committee also asked the State committee to probe the allegations being raised against the Ernakulam Press Club in connection with Monson.
