Riyas lashes out at ED, claims friend was forced to involve him in monthly payoff case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former minister and Mohammed Riyas MLA said the news that have emerged in connection with the monthly payoff case are totally baseless. Riyas said CMRL Managing Director had not given any statement claiming that Exalogic Solutions, the company owned by Veena, daughter of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had not provided services to CMRL.

‘Many of you reported the news that CMRL MD had stated that Veena’s company had not provided any services to CMRL. However, I believe that the CMRL MD did not make any such statement. I have never met the CMRL MD, but the claim that no services were provided is incorrect.’

Riyas also alleged that ED officials forced his friend to mention his name by threatening to implicate his friend’s daughter in the case.

‘After conducting a raid at my friend’s house and finding nothing, the officials forced him to say that he had dealings with Pinarayi Vijayan. When my friend said that he had never met Pinarayi Vijayan directly, the officials pressured him to name either Veena or me. They threatened to implicate his daughter in connection with some issue related to payments and forced him to name one of us. He was mentally distressed and, the very next day, wrote a letter to the ED explaining all these matters,’ Riyas said.

Meanwhile, a copy of the affidavit submitted to the ED by Riyas’ friend, Waris, has surfaced. In the affidavit, he alleged that the ED recorded his statement by threatening him. The statement was given on the day after the ED conducted the raid on August 18.

The affidavit submitted to withdraw the statement says that the statement recorded by the officials was not given voluntarily and that he was forced to make it under threat. It is alleged that ED officials pressured him to state that Riyas had given a large sum of money and that, on Riyas’s instructions, the money had been sent to Dubai through the hawala channel.