ED searches Mohammed Riyas’s friend’s bank locker; 50 sovereigns of gold found

KOZHIKODE: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday searched the bank locker of Febish, an IT entrepreneur and friend of former minister Mohammed Riyas, in Kozhikode. The locker had been frozen earlier as part of the investigation. The ED found 50 sovereigns of gold in it.

The search is part of the investigation into the monthly pay-off case. The ED had earlier informed that documents seized from Veena, daughter of Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan, contained evidence of money laundering. In a letter to the Director General of Police (DGP), the agency also alleged that her husband, Mohammed Riyas, played a key role in the alleged hawala transactions.

Based on these allegations, the ED is searching the bank lockers of Riyas’s friends. Details of a statement allegedly given by Waris, a close associate of Riyas, had emerged earlier. According to the statement, Rs 1.2 crore was allegedly sent to Faijas VP in Dubai.

Riyas, however, alleged that the ED was deliberately trying to tarnish his image. He made the remarks while speaking to the media.

“The ED calls these important pieces of evidence. Would such evidence be leaked in this manner? Why did they choose this particular day to release the evidence? Today, the CPM is organising a massive rally attended by lakhs of people following the successful conclusion of its extended state committee meeting. There had been an earlier attempt to link me to hawala transactions, but that failed. Now, a new story has been brought out. We had formed a WhatsApp group called ‘Beypore’ for development activities in the constituency. News allegedly leaked by the ED claimed that this group was created for hawala transactions,” Riyas said.