The Walayar-based Malabar Cements Ltd. (MCL) has again landed in the thick of controversy after a confessional statement given in a judicial magistrate court by a former managing director (MD) of the firm was made public.
The statement alleges that Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] central committee member Elamaram Karim had accepted a money packet from the Palakkad-based controversial businessman V.M. Radhakrishnan, who has close links with the cement company.
The incident, according to MCL ex-MD M. Sunderamoorthy, took place in 2010 when Mr. Karim was Industries Minister in the then CPI (M)-led government.
Meanwhile, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has intensified the probe into the irregularities in the construction of Reverse Air Bag House (RABH) at the company and collected evidence from present company MD K. Padmakumar.
More to be questioned
VACB officials told The Hindu that some director board members of the company and a few former directors would be questioned soon as part of the probe.
Several civic rights organisations in Palakkad are pressing their demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe involving officials from outside the State in the case saying that Mr. Radhakrishnan had proved earlier that he could torpedo any probe by officials in the State.
Whistle-blower
Mr. Radhakrishnan, who allegedly bribed Mr. Karim through a third party, is an accused in four corruption cases related to the MCL. He is also an accused in the suicide case of a senior MCL executive who was a whistle-blower. It was in 2011 that he was charged with abetting the suicide of company secretary V. Saseendran and his two children.
Former MD’s statement courts fresh controversy
VACB collects evidence from present MD
