ED files case against CPM state secretary's son Bineesh Kodiyeri; action post grilling

In yet another massive embarrassment to CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, and also the ruling LDF, the Enforcement Directorate in Kochi has slapped a case against Kodeyeri's son Bineesh Kodiyeri. The case has been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The Assistant Director of ED has written a letter to the registration department on September 11 seeking information regarding the properties and assets owned by Bineesh. The letter also directed the Registration Department that no properties of Bineesh be transacted without informing the ED authorities. It is also reported that Bineesh is suspected to have committed the offence as per section16,17,18 of the UAPA Act.

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Earlier, on September 9, the Enforcement Directorate had interrogated Bineesh for 11 hours. The probe team suspected that he has companies under his Benamis and that the Thiruvananthapuram-headquartered UAFX Solutions Private Limited is one among them. A report also alleges that he is the director of a visa stamping company which is related to the gold smuggling case and that Bineesh has received profits through it.

Muslim Youth League state general secretary P K Firoz had, in a press meet alleged that Bineesh also has close connections with the drugs smuggling gang. Mohammed Anoop, who was caught by the central crime branch in the Bengaluru drug case had also been in the public domain.

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"I started a restaurant in 2015. Bineesh was the one who provided the financial assistance for the restaurant. I sold the restaurant to another group in 2018 due to a crisis," Anoop had stated.

Responding to it, Bineesh said that he knew Anoop for 7 years and has financially helped him but he is unaware of his drugs link.

"I have had financial dealings with him. I gave him Rs 6 lakh for a hotel business. He had called me two days before his arrest saying he did not have money to come home. So, I gave him Rs 15,000. I did not know he was a drug dealer," Bineesh had said.

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Bineesh and his past

Bineesh has been in the centre of controversy earlier as well. In 2019, a Dubai Court had sentenced Bineesh to two months imprisonment in connection with the non-repayment of a loan of Rs 2 lakhs Dirhams the Dubai branch of a Saudi-based finance company.

In 2018, BJP senior leader AN Radhakrishnan had disclosed some documents that exposed unscrupulous financial dealing of him. He had alleged that 28 companies, in which the Bineesh and his elder brother Binoy, have a partnership, are operating in a building at Sasthamangalam in Thiruvananthapuram. "Most of the companies started operations in 2008 when their father Kodiyeri was the Minister for Tourism," he had alleged.

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