Raj Kumar Unni says 4 Cong ministers too involved

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On a day when Bar Hotel Owners Association working president Biju Ramesh came out with fresh revelations in the bar bribery case, the UDF high power committee meeting that reviewed recent statements on the same issue by R Balakrishna Pillai and P C George, refused to call the bluff of the two leaders.
The meeting was highly critical of Pillai and George but failed to recommend any action against either.Hours before the scheduled meeting, Ramesh unspooled a new audio tape in which president of the association, Raj Kumar Unni, claims they [bar owners] have bribed four Congress ministers, apart from finance minister K M Mani.
Unni does not name anyone but in the tape he can be heard counting one, two, three and four. Biju said he was willing to undergo polygraph test and demanded that other office bearers of the association too should be subjected to similar tests.
In the new tape, Unni is heard saying the association is expecting a favourable verdict from the court and if the government moves against it, he would be the first person to reveal the names of the ministers who accepted money.
Biju had handed over to the vigilance team an audio tape lasting 105 minutes in which several bar hotel owners speak about having paid bribe to Mani for a favourable decision on closed bars.
The vigilance and anti-corruption bureau has issued notices to eight bar hotel owners, including Unni to appear before it this week. Although association vice-president P M Krishnadas and Unni had appeared before the vigilance officials, their statements were not recorded. So far, only the statements of association general secretary M D Dhanesh and state executive committee member Animon have been recorded. It is likely that they will be questioned again.
On Wednesday vigilance sleuths questioned John Kallat, one of the hotel owners who Biju said has paid bribe to Mani, for nearly six hours. Later Kallat told the media that Jose K Mani, Kottayam MP and Mani’s son, has not telephoned him to seek help for defusing the charges against Mani. He denied having met Mani to hand over money and said recordings in the ‘Biju tape’ were incorrect. Sources, however, said the vigilance team countered the stand taken by Kallat that no bribe was paid.