Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala on Monday claimed that the issue of masala bonds by the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) remains one of the biggest financial scams the state has seen.
He repeated his claim that the bond issue benefited the Canadian firm with ties to SNC-Lavalin. Responding to a show cause notice issued by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Mr. Chennithala said the sole beneficiary of the decision to issue the bonds at a high interest rate of 9.72% was CDPQ, a company with close ties to SNC-Lavalin.
Mr. Chennithala said he had raised the issue in and out of the Assembly when he was Leader of the Opposition. He termed the ED notification as a drama to hide the CPI(M)-BJP nexus during the election period. “We do not take the notices issued to Mr Vijayan and TM Thomas Isaac seriously as the Center usually engages in such measures to hide the undercurrents of the CPI(M)-BJP when elections are nearing. This is only a drama to fool the minority communities in Kerala into believing that there is no hidden understanding with the BJP,” Mr Chennithala said.
Published – 01 Dec 2025 21:17 IST
