‘Veena never admitted to hawala dealings; she wrote about plans to start a business’

KOZHIKODE: Former minister and Veena’s husband, Mohammed Riyas, has rejected the Enforcement Directorate’s claim that documents seized from Veena in the monthly pay-off case contain evidence of money laundering. The ED had also alleged that Riyas played a key role in the suspected hawala transactions. Speaking to the media, Riyas said the allegations were part of a deliberate attempt to tarnish his image in society.

“The ED says these are 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 leaked by the ED claimed that this group was created for hawala transactions,” Riyas said.

"People from the constituency, including journalists, are members of the WhatsApp group. The chats and transactions can be examined. We will legally fight the allegations. The ED says Veena admitted that it was hawala money. This is completely absurd and false. Veena had written in the book about matters related to starting a business in the future. She had not even discussed these matters with the people whose names were written in it. There is no connection between this and money laundering. Raids were conducted at the homes and offices of all those whose names appeared in the book. None of them said that the money was black money. Matters related to a future business were written in a book, and now it is being called a ‘red book’,” he said.

Riyas also dismissed reports that Veena had been involved in hawala transactions.

“There has been widespread propaganda that Veena was involved in hawala transactions. She was questioned three times, but not a single question related to hawala was asked during these interrogations. We have not done anything wrong in any way. This is a well-written, fabricated script. The person who wrote it deserves an award,” Riyas said.