The Kerala government has gifted acres of prime land at Kalamassery HMT to private individuals. Of the 300 acres the government has handed over to Kinfra, 60 acres has been passed on to the Ernakulam Medical College. As much as 10 acres have been granted to the National University of Advanced Legal Studies and 5.5 acres to the Kalamassery municipality.

Around 100 acres is in the possession of four organizations. The land has been leased out for 90 years. One of the organizations has constructed a gateway and a few buildings on the 30 acres allotted to it. Another organization has built up 4,000 square feet of its 30 acre share.

Yet another company has not even built a temporary shed on the 40 acres allotted to it.

The transaction of the land happened in 2006-2007. The deal violated the norm that limited the leasehold of government land from 90 years to 30 years. These three organizations possess land worth at least Rs 800 crore. Crores of rupees have changed hands behind the scenes. The beneficiaries belong to all political fronts.

Miles away in Peerumedu, the sale of a plantation had put the previous United Democratic Front (UDF) government in a quandary. The authorities had granted ownership of government land to a plantation owner.

The government canceled the transaction when the news was leaked out. What transpired behind the curtains was truly mind-boggling.

When the plantation was put up for sale, the company was approached by two suitors - a Mumbai-based company run by a Malayali as well as a non-resident Malayali.

The Mumbai company even paid an advance amount of Rs 15 crore. The seller went ahead and received the advance from the second suitor, who happened to be well-connected in Kerala’s power centers.

Predictably, the deal was disputed. A Supreme Court advocate and the son of a political leader in the ruling front offered to mediate. The company was told to split the plantation and sell them to both buyers.

The Mumbai company insisted on land with proper records, while the expatriate was fine with the stretch with 600 acres of government land without title deeds. He was told that he would get ample support to regularize the land.

Everything went fine until an INTUC leader from Idukki got wind of the deal. He was furious that he was kept out of the deal. A flurry of applications under the Right to Information Act followed, making it difficult for the parties to keep the deal under wraps anymore.

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau was asked to probe the transaction.

The cabinet never took a decision to part with 600 acres of government land but many of the ministers were aware of the illegal deal.

Price setters

The Infopark in Kochi was still in the planning phase. A Congress leader surprised real estate agents by offering to buy a deep swamp. The leader was working close to a former minister who was privy to the government’s plan to build an information technology park in Kochi.

The leader bought large swathes of land at a nominal price range between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 per cent by the time the Infopark-related works were put on track.

The government bought the entire stretch of land the leader had bought for a song. The local leader boosted his assets by a few crores of rupees by this single deal.

A similar script would have been played out ahead of the construction of Kochi Metro but for the vigilant land owners. Leader-dealers were out scouting for land along the proposed Metro line and the swamp at Muttom near Aluva where the coach repairing yard was supposed to come up.

The residents knew better. They had learned their lesson from the Infopark. The land owners organized themselves and their plots commanded as high a price as Rs 1.10 lakh per cent.

The political class want a share in every piece of reality.

The Civil Service Cooperative Society started the construction of a flat on two acres of land near the Vennala school at Kakkanad two years ago. The DYFI protested what it termed as reclamation of wetland. The Youth Congress and the BJP also joined the agitation.

The party flags marred the site for three months. When asked about the status of the agitation, the leaders would just say that the village officer has obtained an injunction. Now, the building is almost complete.

Civil service officers had got into another murky land deal. Influential bureaucrats had tried to take over land for a housing project from the Greater Cochin Development Agency for a pittance. The land was worth Rs 25 lakh per cent but the planned deal was for Rs 8 lakh per cent. The plan had to be dropped midway.

Where money flows

Many of the illegal transactions are half-done in the safety of the Middle East. Bribes are paid out abroad to avoid possible scrutiny later. The job all the more easier if you have an establishment abroad in the name of relatives or loyal benamis.

There is more to the foreign jaunts of the netas that meets the eye. The bribe money is held safely as deposits or investments in ventures in foreign lands.

The less savvy netas have to rely on benamis at home. The allegation against a BJP leader from Malappuram that he had received Rs 10 lakh from a job seeker throws light into the modus operandi of the corrupt politicians.

The complainant said that he was told by the leader to deposit money to a third party account. He said that he had transferred money to the account of a Pulpatta resident. Political leaders have learned to be safe. Such muddled transactions keep the neta safe from any probe.

A former minister had the bribe money transferred to the London account of his son.

Another safe haven for corrupt politicians is the cooperative banks. Even cooperative banks run by marginal parties have deposits that run into crores of rupees. A major part of this deposit is held in benami accounts by politicians, reliable sources said.

BJP vs BMS

Employees at the BrahMos Aerospace Thiruvananthapuram Limited (BATL) at Chakka were surprised by a poster that mysteriously appeared in the office canteen. The news clipping about the cash-for-affiliation that tainted the BJP was pasted on the notice board, with a comment beneath that which wondered how much would it cost for an appointment to the BATL.

The BATL is a subsidiary of the BrahMos Aerospace, a Defense Research and Development Organization joint venture with Russia. The company produces rocket engines, missile parts and other specialized components.

The BATL has trade unions affiliated to the CITU, the INTUC, the AITUC and the BMS. The BJP floated another trade union to take on its own feeder union. The new union eclipsed the BMS in no time but it has come under fire now.

The union is led by the BJP leader who is in the dock for accepting a bribe for ensuring medical college affiliation. Its secretary is another leader who faced disciplinary action related to the same case. This is the only union in the BATL whose office-bearers are not selected from among the employees.

The BMS had complained about the new union to the BJP and RSS leadership.

The union made inroads into the BATL by promising to turn the venture into a public sector undertaking under the ministry of defense. But the leaders keep themselves busy by facilitating the appointment to the workforce from welder to engineer.

The poster that came up in the canteen was a pointer to a cash-for-job scam, employees say.

United in graft

Ruling and opposition parties present a picture of bonhomie in the administrative committees of the Kochi municipal corporation. They have good reasons to cooperate. The prime attraction is a secretive fund called the “mayor’s development fund”.

The fund is worth crores of rupees yet it is beyond the purview of any audit. No one knows where the fund is drawn from or where the money goes. The audit wing of the corporation has ordered the winding down of the fund that is split into three sections.

The camaraderie that cut across party lines was most evident after the 2001 local body election. The Left Democratic Front had one seat more than the United Democratic Front. The BJP had two members who could decide the future rulers of the city.

The UDF’s mayor candidate made a deal with the BJP members. The hapless LDF decided to fight anyway. The Left camp was pleasantly surprised by a call from the “leader”. He said the Congress candidate would not win. It so happened. The BJP members abstained from voting.

The rest of the term was eventful. Kochi and surroundings witnessed unprecedented construction activity. High rises were everywhere. Land became hot property. Wetlands were reclaimed flouting all norms.

Allegations of irregularities did find a place in the council meetings. The opposition created a ruckus whenever an allegation came up. Business of the house was disrupted. But the issue would be forgotten after two or three council meetings.

All councilors except about 10 key members were oblivious of the dealings.

A controversy raged after the corporation allowed a telecom major to lay underground cables beneath the city. The permission was to lay 130 kilometers of cable. The company laid so much cable under the roads in 10 divisions itself. No one knows the total length of cables laid in all 74 divisions.

The company’s contractors dug up every road, including those with a five-year warranty. The work did not have the official permission of the corporation but the contractor was a general secretary of the district Congress committee.

At least six companies in Kochi focus on road digging and cable laying. They have many influential politicians as sleeping partners.

Leaders in the CPM and the Congress made a fortune by covering up for the reclamation of vital canals across Kochi and surroundings as realty prices boomed. Canals in Kochi, Marad, Thrikkakkara and Thripunithura vanished overnight thanks to political patronage.

(To be continued)

(Reported by Jiji Paul, Anil Kurudath, Jayachandran Ilankath, R Krishna Raj, V R Prathap, Mintu P Jacob, A S Ullas and T B Lal)

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