THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: KPCC president K Sudhakaran MP said that with the arrest of former Principal Secretary M Sivashankar in the Life Mission housing scheme corruption case, the lies built by the Chief Minister all this time have collapsed like a house of cards. If the state government has the courage to withdraw the appeal filed against the CBI investigation in the Supreme Court, the time is not far from when the teacher will go behind bars after the disciple.

The skeletons of the corruption that happened during the first Pinarayi government are coming out one after the other. Earlier, Sivashankar was arrested for money laundering, dollar smuggling, and gold smuggling. Shivshankar, who spent 98 days in jail in three cases, was reinstated in the service of the Chief Minister and allowed to retire with all benefits and to write a book defending and praising the Chief Minister. It is common knowledge that Sivashankar is the keeper of many secrets related to the Chief Minister.

Meanwhile, the government overturned the vigilance investigation conducted three years ago in connection with the Life Mission project. After making some critical findings, the investigation team was dismissed and the officers were transferred. A hasty vigilance raid was conducted before the CBI arrived and all the documents were seized, which was a huge controversy. Even though there is a very serious smell of corruption in the Biryani bowl sent to the Chief Minister's house and the bag sent to the Chief Minister abroad, the investigation did not proceed. The probe agencies' move to interrogate Chief Minister's Private Secretary CM Ravindran was also foiled.

Crores from the money received through the UAE Red Crescent to help the poor in Kerala have been shared with many people including the elite. Against the CBI investigation in this regard, the government appointed top lawyers, first in the High Court and then in the Supreme Court, after spending lakhs of rupees. The government came out against the CBI's move to expand the investigation abroad as the bribe money was smuggled in dollars. The truth is that the truth will come out only if the CBI investigates further. Sudhakaran also pointed out that the CBI investigation was stalled because of the CPM-BJP understanding.

Sudhakaran also expressed his appreciation to former MLA Anil Akkara, who led an unrelenting fight against the massive corruption in the project to build 140 apartments of 500 square feet on 2.18 acres under the Vadakanchery Municipal Corporation.